Alex in Wonderland
by Anon Banana
Summary: The all-boys version of my and RoseLocket's story, Amanda in Wonderland—Alex in Wonderland. Alex finds himself in Wonderland after looking for his friends then getting pulled through a mirror. After meeting his friends' Wonderland counterparts, the White Queen tells him to find the criminal Wilfre to get through his Looking-Glass and get back home.
1. Alex in Wonderland

**WAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! I TOTALLY HAVE NO PERMISSION TO DO THIS FROM MY DEAREST FRIEND ROSELOCKET (don't bother—she doesn't live here in FF) =w=**

**Anyway, if ever you non-existing people who like Amanda in Wonderland want to read it with fewer girls, then…**

…**HERE I PRESENT TO THE NON-EXISTING FANS OF **_**Amanda in Wonderland**__**—Alex in Wonderland**_**! =D**

**It's where everyone except Donna McElvanly the Duchess, Jillian Maus the Dormouse, Viasna, Autumn, and possibly Tweedle Carly-Dee the Tweedle-Dee twin (because I'd be confused on the Carl (Carly) and Carlo, LOL) would be turned into guys = 3=**

* * *

**DESCRIPTION FOR CHARACTERS:**

**Alex Revet ((Amanda Toren))**

Alex is a tall-ish young man with spiky, dark brown hair and black eyes. He wears a black vest over a long-sleeved, white, button-up shirt that's folded until the elbows, a pair of black slacks, and black shoes. (This only happens once he arrives in Wonderland, just like how Amanda suddenly wears a dress there.) He does not have mismatched fingerless gloves, unlike Amanda.

**Luke Zuria ((Lysia Snow))**

Luke is a young man with average height, messy but well-kept, silver hair almost reaching his back, a pair of red eyes, and authentic, long, white rabbit ears. He wears a red coat over a long-sleeved, white, button-up shirt, a pair of gray slacks, and high-heeled, red boots.

Instead of a golden pocket watch like Lysia's, he has a silver pocket watch.

**Aniki Sapienta ((Athena Sapienta))**

Aniki is a young man with average height, short, azure hair, with two braids that rest on his shoulders, a pair of sleepy-looking, gray eyes, and he sits on a red mushroom while he smokes his hookah. He wears a white coat with blue trimmings and an open collar over a blue shirt, a pair of green pants tucked in a pair of blue boots.

He sits on the mushroom zazen style, not cross-legged.

**Kureta Chesa ((Kristina Cheshire))**

Kurai is a young man with average height, spiky, black hair with a pair of blue-black cat ears on his head, and a pair of yellowish, cat-like eyes. He wears a striped, long-sleeved, black-and-purple shirt that's folded until the elbows, a blue coat tied around his waist, a pair of gray pants, and a pair of dark blue boots.

Instead of a bow and quiver, he has a sword.

**Stephen Heightopp**

Stephen is a tall young man with a pale complexion, and spiky black hair with bangs hanging over his glasses. His thin figure is clad in a collared black button-up coat that went down to below his knees with the last four buttons undone to make it easier to walk on his, again, black boots. He hides two, poison-covered throwing knives in the sleeves of his coat.

**Tweedle Carlo-Dum**

Carlo-Dum is a tall young man with messy, blondish-brown hair, a pair of black eyes, and a red beret sits on his head. He wears a gray button-up blouse under a red coat, and a pair of red shorts reaching his knees, which are held up by a brown belt. Over his button-up blouse is a black vest, and he wears a pair of brown boots with red laces as his footwear.

**Tweedle Cairo-Dee ((Tweedle Carly-Dee))**

Cairo-Dee is a tall young man with messy, brownish-blond hair, a pair of black eyes, and a blue beret sits on his head. He wears a white button-up blouse under a blue coat, and a pair of blue shorts reaching his knees, which are held up by a brown belt. Over his button-up blouse is a black vest, and he wears a pair of brown boots with blue laces as his footwear.

**Angelo Crystalle ((Angelia Crystalia))**

Angelo is a rather short young man with straight, blond hair almost reaching his back, a pair of black eyes, and pale skin. He wears a cream-colored jacket over a white, button-up blouse and black vest, a pair of cream-colored pants, and white, leather shoes.

He does not wear wing-like adornments, unlike Angelia.

* * *

**I need not explain for the Duchess, the Dormouse, and the antagonists. =V**

**NOTES:**

**- "Revet" is torn in Danish**

**- "Zuria" is white in Basque**

**- "Sapienta" means wisdom in Italian (technically, it's supposed to be 'sapienza')**

**- "Aniki" is big brother in Japanese**

**- "Chesa" is Cheshire in Japanese**

**And take note-the character descriptions will most likely change sooner or later.**

**~Anon Banana**


	2. Cookies, Disappearance, and a Mirror

**I. Cookies, disappearing friends, and the Looking-Glass**

* * *

Alex Revet typed on his laptop lazily as he waited for his friends to arrive. He wasn't paying attention much to the new chapter he was writing, for what was occupying his mind right now was '_HOW LONG DOES IT FUCKING TAKE TO GET TO MY HOUSE?!_'

He heard footsteps going down the stairs and looked up to see his older brother, Aaron. Smirking, the older said, "Are your friends turtles or what?"

"Shut up!" Alex replied. "Luke had to fetch Kurai, Cairo, and Carlo from their houses, and Aniki and Stephen from school."

_Tsk_. "Whatever." And with that, the older teen disappeared into the kitchen.

Right at that moment, the door slammed open and there appeared a teen with messy but well-kept, silver hair that reached his back with a wide grin on his face. "Hey, Alex! Sorry we're late, it was traffic going to the Twins' house!" It was Luke Terra, the third youngest of the group.

At Luke's hurry towards the dining table of Alex's house, he was able to dodge the pillow that the latter attempted to throw at the former. Instead, it hit the next person who was coming in.

Once the pillow fell to the floor, an annoyed face with now crooked glasses (due to the cushion) glared at him. It was Stephen Mecha (**A/N: Pronounced as "MEH-kah")**, the eldest and tallest of the group. He had rather messy and unkempt hair with bangs hanging over his glasses.

_Tsk._ Pushing up his glasses, Stephen continued into the house.

But before Stephen could get far into the house, a teen about 9cm or so smaller than him placed an arm around his neck like they were buddies who have never seen each other in years.

It was Kureta Aesosi (**A/N: "EY-so-see"**), the second youngest of the group. He had messy hair that he never cares about (except that he makes sure no hair gets to his eyes) and rather cat-like teeth. "Heh-heh~! Had fun with that pillow, eh, Stupid Hatter?"

Stephen blankly stared at his sort-of-best-friend-kind-of-rival for a while before giving him a mischievous smile. "It's a wonder how you can place your arm around me being that small~"

With that said, the two started bickering as a pair of twins-identical twins-entered the house. They usually can't be told apart, but the one with bangs parted to the left was Carlo Leia, and the one with bangs parted to the right was Cairo Leia. They both had shoulder-length, blondish-brown hair and black eyes.

"Well, Kureta and Stephen…," started Carlo.

"…Are at it again," Cairo finished.

Everyone flinched at a sudden slightly stern voice that came from the mouth of an azure-haired teen with braids resting on his shoulders and dark blue eyes. "Stephen, Kureta! Stop fighting or else!" It was Aniki Miran, the youngest but most mature of the group.

Once Stephen and Kureta shut up, another noise was heard—a barking of a dog. To be specific, it was Alex's Pekingese, Enki. He was running (or rather, waddling, since Enki was one heck of a chubby pup) towards Luke and Kureta, who were talking about something along the lines of "Boom Shakalaka."

Shrieking, the two twin-like friends separated from each other, trying to get away from the dog. When Luke was out of the way, everyone realized the dog was chasing after Kureta, who had already stepped up a chair he had pulled out from under the dining table, and was staring at the puppy in fear.

"Oh, goodness!" Alex's mother, Aunt Les, exclaimed, taking hold of the pup and taking him upstairs. Looking back towards Kureta, she said, "Are you OK?"

The latter nodded slowly. This contradicted his pale face, however.

"Well, then, I'm sorry. I have no idea what's gotten into him."

As Aunt Les continued to go to the second floor, and Kureta finally got the courage to get down from the chair, Alex's grandmother popped out of the kitchen with a big plate of spaghetti in her hands.

"Hello, boys! Lunch time!" she cheered.

Luke's eyes suddenly had sparkles in them. "Is there parmesan?"

"Yes."

"_Lots_ of parmesan?"

"Yes."

"_Yatta~!_" he exclaimed and rushed to the table.

Murmurs of excitement buzzed in the room as they sat around the table.

Going up the stairs and to the second floor, Alex entered his parents' room to check on his dog.

Looking at the Pekingese warily, he asked, "So, how's Enki?"

Aunt Les stood up from beside the said dog, who was now lapping his tongue in a bowl of water.

"He's OK," she replied. And before Alex could even open his mouth, she added, "Enki doesn't have rabies, I can tell what you're thinking. Just ask if Kureta has any bacon in his pockets or any other type of meat, that made the poor dog like this."

Alex stared at his mom weirdly for a few seconds and walked away mumbling, "OK…"

Once he neared the stairs, the teen noticed that there was _no sound at all_ that came from downstairs. And usually his friends were very noisy (except when having classes, that was the only time they actually shut up). And by the time he reached the end of the staircase, he found…

…Nothing.

No friends, no grandma, no brother, no spaghetti, NO PILLOW ON THE FLOOR WHICH PRACTICALLY EVERYONE SAW FLY ACROSS THE ROOM.

No nothing.

Alex checked around the first floor. But the kitchen and the storage room that had an aquarium filled with dead cockroaches were empty.

He went up the stairs once more to check there. But his parents' room and his and his brother's room were empty as well. Not even Enki was there.

/_VWOOOOOOUSSSSHHHH…!_/

Whipping his head to the door, Alex saw a blur with white hair run across the corridor. Running after it, he realized that it was Luke. Or, well… He thought that it was Luke.

The latter now wore a red coat over a long-sleeved, white, button-up shirt, a pair of gray pants, and high-heeled, crimson boots. This attire was completely different than his original pants, black shirt, and white vest.

However, this was not the most significant thing that Alex noticed.

On Luke's head was a pair of authentic, long, white, bunny ears. He also carried what looked like a huge silver pocket watch, and now had a pair of red eyes.

Alex didn't know what to think of this. It was either this was a dream of Luke was cosplaying as an anime character with bunny ears—he _was_ an otaku.

His thoughts were interrupted when Luke suddenly said, "Hey, Alex, hurry up! We're late, we're late! God, you are SO SLOW!" He pointed to his pocket watch.

The two started to have a chase down the stairs, which seemed longer than how it should be, and felt like it turned around in circles instead of the usual straight flight.

And when they finally reached the end, Luke ran towards the mirror in the living room and walked right through it like as if it was water.

This left Alex dumbfounded.

He walked towards the mirror and saw his reflection. Except it was slightly different…

Instead of his pair of pants and randomly picked shirt, he saw himself in a long-sleeved, white, button-up blouse under a back vest, with a pair of black slacks and black shoes.

'_That was weird_,' he thought as his reflection changed into an entirely different person.

This one had messier hair, was quite taller than Alex, and had a pale complexion along with a pair of midnight black eyes. He wore a black cloak over a long-sleeved shirt with a diamond pattern (and had the colors red, black, and white), and had a pair of black slacks tucked in black boots with white heels.

The other person's eyes suddenly had a red glow and a sinister grin.

"_Alex…_," he muttered. "_Alex… Follow me… Follow me… Follow me… Alex…_"

Alex was freaked out by this.

He was even more freaked out when the other male reached out his hand towards him—and the hand came out.

However, it wasn't the other male's hand, and instead was Luke's. The said now-bunny's head appeared from the glass and pulled Alex in, saying, "Hurry up! You're so damn slow!"

Once Alex entered, he began falling down the Rabbit Hole through the Looking-Glass…


	3. Seven Doors, a Mushroom, and a Wide Grin

**II. Seven doors, a Mushroom, and a Wide Grin**

* * *

_Once Alex entered, he began falling down the Rabbit Hole through the Looking-Glass…_

Falling, falling, down a dark hole.

Once Alex hit tiles without being injured whatsoever, he sat up rubbing the back of his head. He looked around the circular room, seeing six doors. They were either double doors or single doors, and were either made of wood with normal doorknobs or wood with metal handles. But all of them were locked once he tried them one by one.

Alex walked back to the center of the room and found a table that was _never there to begin with_. And on the table was a key that was _also never there to begin with_. But he still picked it up and tried it on all the doors. However, the key didn't work on any.

And it only worked on a very miniscule door that was hidden behind a curtain that was _also never there to begin with_.

The door slowly closed as Alex just sat there, forlorn. '_God, I'm never going to get out of this place…_'

Walking back to the table, he noticed something else that was _yet again, never there to begin with._ It was a small, glass bottle with greenish-bluish-grayish liquid inside, and a cork covering the opening. Around the neck, there was a tag that said, "_Drink Me._"

And that was the stupidest instruction that Alex as ever read! It was obvious that it was poison—why else would 'they' want him to drink it? But when he uncorked the bottle, it smelled like chocolate-chip cookies. Very…delicious…divine…chocolate chip cookies…

This made Alex really hungry. After all, he didn't eat any lunch—the plate of spaghetti at home disappeared before he could even touch it. So he went ahead and drank the mysterious liquid—which was very dangerous.

Alex began shrinking and shrinking faster than how Road Runner or Speedy Gonzales or Sebastian Michaelis or Claude Faustus could run. He was already about the size of a gerbil—and the right size of someone who could fit through the before-miniscule-and-now-normal-sized door.

And once he reached the door and tried to open it, he realized he didn't have the key. And the key was sitting quietly on top of the table.

Alex sat under the table, having an emo corner moment, when he noticed something that was, _again, never there to begin with._

It was a glass case with a cake with the words "_Eat Me_" written with icing on it.

He reached out towards it and picked it up. And since it was a cake, Alex instinctively ate it. Which was a wrong and a right thing to do.

Alex began growing taller and taller and taller and taller until he was somewhere around 8 to 9 feet tall and his head was touching the roof, which was actually too low for him to fit.

He reached towards the table and got the key, took the bottle, and drank it once more. Alex also realized something that was completely irrelevant at that moment—he was wearing something else, and they were the clothes he saw himself wearing in the mirror.

But that really didn't matter right now, of course. And once he shrank to that gerbil size once again, Alex ran towards the door and unlocked it.

The sight in front of him mesmerized Alex once he stepped through the door.

Strange creatures such as a dodo bird and a flying rocking horse ran or flew around. And I'm sure a dodo bird wouldn't be that strange, but since they were already extinct, Alex found it weird. And as he walked down the path, there were talking flowers commenting about him.

"He's such a strange flower, isn't he?" a Royal Bluebell said.

"Yes, he's even worse than that Ranunculus that passed by earlier," a Sturt's Deserts Rose replied. (**A/N: If you didn't know, a **_**Ranunculus**_** is a flower that's poisonous. Which is weird, since one of the examples of a **_**Ranunculus**_** is a buttercup—a flower **_**and**_** a well-known character from Power Puff Girls. But that seems to make sense, considering that Buttercup is actually kind of mean, right?**)

"Yes, yes...," a Carnation said softly. "I'm much much much much much much more beautiful, actually."

"Also, who the hell has dark brown petals?" a Stor nøkkerose wondered, referring to Alex's dark brown hair.

"Riiiiiiiiiiiight?" a Mogop said to the Stor nøkkerose.

Alex ignored the rest of the conversation and continued walking to the smoky place in front of him.

Towering over the still tiny boy was a young man smoking a hookah, with short, azure hair, with two braids resting on his shoulders, a pair of sleepy, gray eyes sitting on a red mushroom. He wore a white coat with blue trimmings and an open collar over a blue shirt, and a pair of green pants tucked in a pair of dark blue boots.

The azure-headed teen blew smoke at Alex's face. "Whooo are youuu…?"

The dark-haired boy instantly recognized his friend and that voice and exclaimed, "Aniki! Is that you?!"

The said person, who was indeed Aniki and yet not Aniki, said, "You know who I am, so…," he paused to blow smoke at Alex once more, "Whooo are youuu?"

"It's me! Alex!" he exclaimed. "Don't you remember…?"

Realization soon dawned Aniki. "A human," he whispered to himself. Clearing his throat, Aniki said, "So you're name is Alex, huh? You're human, too… Do you need anything?"

Alex's mouth became a straight line. "Well, yeah. I wanna get home and get back to my original size."

"Well then, one side increases and the other decreases. Choose wisely," Aniki said mysteriously, pointing at his mushroom.

Alex stared at the mushroom, thinking whether his friend was saying that he should eat or not. So he reached over and took a piece to the right and one to the left. Chewing on the right first, he grew extra tall. In fact, he grew too tall.

He chewed on the one to the left, and grew smaller, but to his original size.

Aniki was now about the same size as him and wasn't towering over Alex. Looking at him up and down, Aniki blew smoke at Alex's face and transported him elsewhere.

* * *

Alex coughed and fanned the smoke away from his face and once he could see clearly, he realized that he was in a different place.

In front of him was a black, Gothic-like, Renaissance mansion that stood proudly on a land with soft grass and dark purple roses. The mansion had windows that could not be seen through the outside looking inside, but inside looking outside.

The teen slowly approached the mansion and opened the double doors with metal handles. Inside, he found a hallway with many doors. Seeing the doors reminded him of how he got there in the first place, and it was also sickening. He was so tired of seeing too many doors in a room or hall.

He tried every door in the room, and the farthest from the entrance, which sat across from it, led to something like a throne room.

The person who sat on said throne was a woman with soft, silver eyes, and silvery, wavy hair that almost reached her back, with a small black hat with a pink rose and a black and white stripped ribbon on her head. She had a black collar around her neck, wore a black gown with short, puffed sleeves and white frills, and she was wearing black, 1-inched heels. The woman was stroking a purple and black cat that sat on her lap. At her foot was a white rabbit.

The woman noticed Alex and told him to come forth.

Alex slowly and hesitantly walked towards the woman, who introduced herself as Donna McElvanly, the Duchess. "What brings you here?"

"I fell through a glass," Alex replied.

"Oh, than you're the human," Donna said. "And I never really did ask your name…"

"It's Alex."

"Well then, Alex, do you need anything?"

"Well, I need to ask a few things," the teen said. "One, why am I here? Two, how can I get home? Three, why are you so racist on being a human? Aren't you one as well? And four, why is that cat black and purple?"

"Uhm… I wouldn't know exactly why you are here, try asking someone else, I am terrible sorry. And the only way, if I can recall, is that you have to go through Wonderland's Looking-Glass, or the perfect copy of the Looking-Glass that's in possession of someone I wouldn't dare go to. Well, I wouldn't say I'm being racist towards you being a human. It's just that I'm a Wonderlander, and this is Wonderland, so not much Humans really go here, you know?

"Also, this little cat is black and purple because he's a Cheshire Cat~"

"Is that so…," Alex whispered to himself, recalling all of Kureta and Stephen's conversations about Alice in Wonderland and such.

Donna abruptly stood up, startling Alex a bit. "Oh no! I forgot that I have something to do in the Queen's Casle! Uhm… Alex, if you don't mind, I will be taking my leave." Before the young woman closed the door, she gave a slight wave of her hand and finally ran off.

/_POOF~!_/

"_Yare, yare…_ Milday sure is forgetful when it comes to occasions regarding the Queen," a voice said behind Alex.

The teen whipped around and saw a person. Or at least, he _thought_ it was a person.

In front of him stood a young man with messy, black hair with a pair of cat ears sticking out of them, a pair of golden, cat-like eyes, and behind him was a tail that swished side to side happily. He wore a long-sleeved, black-and-purple, striped shirt with sleeves that were too long, a pair of dark gray pants tucked in a pair of dark purple boots with black straps, and a collar hung around his neck with a big, golden bell.

There was another person beside him. It was Luke. But not the original Luke, and instead the one with rabbit ears.

"Ne, Luke," the black-haired boy said, "do you know this human?"

Luke shook his head despite being the one who brought Alex to this world called Wonderland.

"Kureta!" Alex suddenly exclaimed.

The black-haired boy, whose name really was Kureta, whipped his head towards the human. "How did you…know my name…?"

Alex was getting tired of his friends not knowing him. "Shouldn't I know your name? I'm your friend, after all."

/_silence_/

Luke made a /_poof~_/ sound and disappeared in thin air, leaving behind a few sparkles.

"E-eh? Where did Luke go?!" Alex wondered.

Kureta cocked his head to the side. "Luke never introduced himself to you. It's plain scary how you know us…" He sighed. "Anyway, Lu has a job to do, so…"

Alex blinked. "Hey, uh, I have a question?"

Kureta grinned. "Well then, I'll go take you to someone!"

"But can't you just answer them yourself?"

"Eh… No."

And with that, Kureta disappeared into thin air, leaving a purple cloud behind. When Alex turned around, he saw Kureta running out of the room.

He ran after him.

* * *

"Ehhhh? A scratch already?" Kureta smirked as he appeared beside Alex.

The brown-haired teen glared at the Cheshire Cat. "_You_ were the one who kept disappearing and reappearing here and there! I'm obviously bound to get a scratch!"

Kureta waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever. Come on, you still want your questions to be answered, right?"

Alex slowly nodded.

The black-haired boy grinned. "Well, then let's go!"

And with that, the Cat disappeared once more and appeared a few feet away. "Hurry up!"

The Human sighed and ran to catch up with the Cheshire Cat.


	4. Black Hats, Tea Pots, and Sugar Cubes

**III. Black Hats, Tea Pots, and Sugar Cubes**

**Where do I get the power to write this continuously? God, I need to focus on exams now. xDD Anwyay, it must be the power of the glorious boys' love!**

* * *

_The Human sighed and ran to catch up with the Cheshire Cat._

The two people trudged through the woods, one with his black-haired head resting on his hands behind his head and walking casually, and the other holding onto the clothed wound on his left arm.

"Hey, Kureta," Alex suddenly spoke up.

The said boy turned his head to the side, signaling to him that he could talk.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

The Cheshire Cat simply grinned. "To my best friend the Hatter, of course~"

Alex thought for a moment. He remembered Kureta and Luke's conversation about assigning the Wonderland characters to each of their group. They assigned it, coincidentally, like how it is in _this_ Wonderland: Alex was Alice for some reason, Aniki was the Blue Caterpillar because he was the most mature, Kureta was the Cheshire Cat because of his cat-like attributes, Stephen was the Hatter because he somehow found Kureta annoying and he loved hats, Luke was the White Rabbit because he acts like one despite hating carrots, and the Leia twins were the Tweedles because they were, well, twins.

So he finally concluded that Stephen would be the dear Hatter that Wonderland Kureta was talking about.

"_MaaaaAAAAaAAaAArrRRrRRrrrrRcccCcCCCcccHHhhhHIiiiiIIIeEEEeeeeEee!_" a very annoyed and familiar voice yelled throughout the woods.

Alex knew this voice. He hears it scream whenever Kureta did something mischievous again.

Said cat waved the Human over to a nearby tree to see the scenery beyond.

There was a black-clad teen chasing after a crazy-looking teen around a table filled with mismatched teapots, teacups, utensils, cloths, chairs, tables, and rugs. Other than that, there were also unnecessary things, like scissors, knives, hardbound books, and other weapons.

The crazy-looking one had sandy brown hair almost reaching his back, and tied at the end with a thing string, and sticking out of his hair were a pair of brown hare ears with fuzzy fur. He wore a gray, button-up blouse under a dark brown, tea-stained coat, a pair of brown slacks, and leather shoes. Everything about the teen looked messy and mental, most especially his eyes.

He was holding a black hat with a net around it, which was tied into a ribbon at the side. The hat had a ribbon tied around its base that held a two playing cards, a few pins, and a paper with the fraction sign "10/6"

Behind him was the black-clad teen. He had a head of messy, black hair with bangs hanging over his, again, black eyes. He wore a dark gray, button-up blouse and a pair of black slacks, and over those, a buttoned, black coat, with the last four unbuttoned so he could walk easily with his, again, black combat boots.

Apparently, the crazy one snatched the hat from the black-clad one as a joke. Which didn't turn out to be funny at all.

"Give it back, you fucking hare!" the black-clad teen yelled.

"Uweh-heh-heh~ No way~" the crazy one replied.

Kureta looked towards Alex and winked. "Let's have fun shall we?~" And he disappeared again.

There was a third member to the party—a girl who was sleeping. The girl had bobbed, chocolate brown hair with a pair of mouse ears sticking out of it, a pair of crimson eyes, and childish features. She wore what looked like a maid outfit with the colors turned into different shades of pink, and was extra frilly. And tied around her brown tail behind her was a fuchsia pink ribbon.

The said girl suddenly bolted up to the table and screamed, "Caaaaaaaat~!"

The two chasing around the table paused for a moment and looked towards the younger girl. The black-clad teen took advantage of the moment by kicking the crazed one at the face and getting his hat back.

He placed the hat back on its rightful place—on his head—and asked the girl, "Hey, Jill, what's wrong?"

"There's a cat~!" the girl shrieked.

And indeed there was. Behind her appeared Kureta, who said, "Boo!" into the girl's ear, making her bolt under the table, screaming.

The Cheshire Cat grinned and jumped off the table.

The black-clad boy glared at the Cat. "What the fuck are you doing here, you _stupid cat_?"

Kureta, who was actually hurt at the statement, pouted. "What, is it bad to come and visit my dearest Hatter once in a while?"

"You came yesterday."

Alex felt like he should be there introducing himself, so he ran over to them. "Hey! Kureta!"

Once he stood in front of the two he waved over to the black-clad teen. "Hey, Stephen."

/_silence_/

"Kureta."

"Yes?"

"Why do you have a Human boy with you that knows my name?"

"He wanted to ask you questions."

"You didn't answer any of my fucking questions, you stupid cat!"

"Well, when he came to Milady's castle, he knew my and Luke's name as well."

_Tsk._

The black-clad boy, whose name really was Stephen, sat down on the table cross-legged and began drinking some tea. "Yeah, OK. You got my name right. I'm Stephen Hightopp the Mad Hatter."

He pointed towards the now planking on a tree branch crazy person. "That's Marchie Haer, the March Hare." Then he kicked the table under him. "And under the table is Jillan Maus, the Dormouse."

Stephen placed 5 sugar cubes in the tea he was drinking, looking at Alex expectantly.

Alex shrugged and said, "I have a ton of questions right now…"

The Hatter sighed and got up, walked up to the Cheshire Cat, and held the part between Kureta's neck and jaw, tilting his head up.

"You could just answer the questions your self, right, _little cat_?" the older teen whispered.

The act somehow made Kureta blush. He replied, "I…don't know the answers to his questions, so…"

_Tsk._ "Such a liar." Stephen faced Alex and said to him, "So what do you want to know? Can't you see we're in the middle of a tea-party-gone-fucking-wrong?"

Alex took in a deep breath and said all at once, "How do I get back home? Why am I here in Wonderland? What happened to my friends? Why does this place look like a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance? Why the hell do I keep growing and shrinking? Wh—?"

Stephen cut him off by holding up his hand.

"First of all, where did you come from and how did you get here?"

"Through a mirror… Luke pulled me in."

Stephen nodded. "OK. Yeah, so, you went through the Looking-Glass because of the White Rabbit, Luke. So to get out of here, you have to go through the Looking-Glass we have here, which is in control of the Queen of Hearts. Either you go through gay hell to get through _his_ glass, or through frying pan hell through _that person's_ glass.

"As for why you are here, I am not sure about that. Try asking Luke when you get the chance. And what friends do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow.

Alex shrugged. "Well, you look like my friends back in the…Human world, so… What happened to them?"

Stephen sighed. "Well, then, your friends are fine. They're still there in the Human world. Or rather, Earth, as how we call it here in Wonderland. They probably think you're still there. I'm not sure how it works…

"Also, is it a _problem_ that Wonderland looks like a mixture of the Gothic Era and the Renaissance Period? I think it's nice. Also, it's _your_ fault for growing and shrinking. You're too tall to enter this place through that damn door, and you're too small to wander around Wonderland. Trying sticking to one size next time. Geez."

Alex nodded, now understanding. However, he really did want to get home and it was so urgent that he doesn't know whether he would want to go through gay hell or frying pan hell.

"So, who's this…Queen of Hearts that you were talking about?" he asked.

And he got his question when a low voice, that could make fangirls that like badass types, rang throughout the woods. "OFF WITH THAT HUMAN'S HEAD! HOW THE FUCK DARE THAT WEIRDASS ENTER MY LAND WITHOUT PERMISSION?!"

'Apparently, Hatosifur doesn't know the human's a guy…,' Stephen thought to himself as he sat on the tea table and threw a teapot at Kureta who threw the contents at Alex.

Alex was now dripping wet with the liquid, and then became completely dry for some reason.

"Kureta, go away before the Queen finds you! He hates anything that has to do with the Duchess these days, geez!" Stephen barked, now annoyed that a gay was coming to _his _tea table. "Alex, either you stay here and pretend you're not human since you don't smell like one anymore, or you go with the Cat."

"I'd prefer to stay here. Enough going around this place for me today…" Alex sat down as Kureta shrugged and disappeared to who-knows-where.

And that was the exact moment that 3 people—one familiar one, one stern-looking one, and one fatass—emerged from the woods.


	5. Queen of Hearts, Failed Seduction, and

**IV. The Queen of Hearts, a Failed Seduction, and an Escape**

**The power of boys' love! =DDD**

* * *

_And that was the exact moment that 3 people—one familiar one, one stern-looking one, and one fatass—emerged from the woods._

The familiar one was none other than Luke the White Rabbit. Except he had his hair tied somewhere at the end. ('_And if the original Kureta and Luke were here_,' Alex thought, '_they would get reminded of that Fried dude…_')

The stern-looking individual was on a midnight horse. The tall, young man had dark red hair and a pair of orange-ish eyes. He had on what looked like a black marching band jacket with the end extended to make it look like a coat or robe, with crimson trimmings, buttons, and those cuffs on the shoulders which I totally have no idea are called, over a dark gray, button-up blouse, and a pair of pants tucked in black boots. And on top of his head was a crown with a few rubies in the shape of hearts

Alex presumed that he was the Queen of Hearts—who actually turned out to be a male.

Beside the Queen of Hearts was a chubby person in a black, steel armor. He had overly-gelled, black hair and an eye patch, with his other eye the color black.

"You're probably wondering who that fatass is, Alex," Stephen said out loud. "That's the Knave of Hearts, Johann."

The said Knave glared at the Hatter. "Anyways, Mr. Hatter, do you have any idea where the human went?"

_Tsk._ "What human? Can't you see we're having a damn tea party?"

The Queen of Hearts walked over to the Hatter and touched his shoulder, pouting. "Aw, c'mon~ You wouldn't want to hurt your dear Queen Jesse, now would you~"

A shiver ran down the Hatter's spine. "Gross."

"Queen?" Alex wondered. "Aren't you a guy?"

Jesse looked over to Alex and his eyes shimmered the slightest bit. "Oh. It's just a title… And who are you, may I ask?"

Shit. What name do I use? "…Leax." (**A/N: LEE - aks**)

"Leax… Ne?~" Jesse purred. "Do you perhaps know anything about this human?"

"No." Alex's answer sounded to fast.

"Reeeeeeeeaaaaally now?" Jesse said, straightening himself. "Johann, grab hold of him."

The Knave suddenly appeared behind Alex and grabbed his wrists, and at the same time, Kureta just _had_ to slip on a leaf and fall over while he was hiding behind a tree.

"Mreeeow!" he exclaimed as he hit his head on the ground. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

All eyes were on him.

When Kureta noticed their stares, he gave a slight wave. "Nice weather we're having, ne?"

Jesse was glaring at the Cheshire Cat as if expecting him to burst into flames with all the power he had. That didn't succeed too well. He cleared his throat. "The Cheshire Cat, huh? The Duchess' most dear thing in the world, her cat... What are you doing at the Hatter's table? I always thought you two _hated_ each other."

Kureta had a tiny, unnoticeable blush on his face as he held up his hands as if surrendering to the police. "I wasn't stalking."

Jesse rolled his eyes and simply walked back to his midnight horse and climbed on.

The three went away—Jesse on his horse, Johann holding onto Alex, who was glaring at Luke, the only one who hasn't spoken among the three who came.

Kureta sat on the tea table cross-legged. "So do we just leave him alone so that he could find the Looking-Glass himself?"

"That's a good idea," Stephen said as he nonchalantly sipped his tea.

* * *

Alex couldn't take this anymore. Jesse had him pinned to the wall and was asking him questions about the human.

Actually, no. It was more like as if the Queen was trying his best not to fuck the human right on the spot while seducing him still.

So this was what Stephen meant by "gay hell".

Alex shuddered at the hand that kept rubbing his back. It felt completely wrong.

"Leax~ Why won't you tell me what you know about that human?~" Jesse pouted as he nuzzled the smaller boy's neck. "You're being very mean~"

The poor human gave a small chuckle. "Then maybe you should _get off me_."

Jesse sighed. "You're worse than Luke."

Someone came knocking on the door. The Queen allowed them to enter, and it was Johann along with someone who looked remarkably like Marchie, except a lot more handsome, and he looked _sane._

"I've found a stalker of Wonderland who could be of use to us in finding the human," the Knave said.

"Alright then," Jesse said indifferently. "Leave him here and go away. Just seeing you pisses me off. Remind me to fire you tomorrow."

The Knave gulped and closed the door.

The individual who looked a lot like Marchie turned out to be his older brother, Mark. Apparently, he wasn't as insane as his younger brother. His arrival also made him take the place of Alex as a gay magnet.

Mark, unlike Alex, was actually _having fun_. It could be any moment now that the Queen and Hare would end up having _it_ right in front of the poor human.

So the brown-haired boy slipped out of the throne room in search of what would bring him home—the Looking-Glass.

After a few hours of searching, he found nothing that looked like something he could fall through to get back to Earth. And after searching some more, he ended up in front of…

…Stephen and Kureta talking to each other _without any chaos happening_.

"…Yo," Alex said.

Stephen and Kureta looked at the human for a few seconds before continuing their conversation, which turned out to be about this guy called Matthew Mark Luke John Peony Malkuth Beelzebub Orutha Shinku McDonald MDCLVIII. It sounded really ridiculous and yet the two talked with serious faces.

"Hey, uh, I went around and couldn't find the Looking-Glass…," Alex said.

The two sighed.

"Well then, too bad," Stephen said. "You'll have to go through a ton of chapters now." He stood up.

Kureta stood up and wiped off imaginary dust from his pants. "Let's go, then. We better make sure that we won't be caught by that fatass Knave."

As Alex trailed behind Stephen and Kureta, who were now talking about this person named Revile, someone caught his eye.

"Cheshire~" Donna called out, a few feet in front of them.

Kureta lit up and ran towards the Duchess. "Hey! You got out?"

The Duchess nodded. "Mm-hmm! I brought my picklocks this time so I was able to pick the lock with them, instead of using amateur straw!"

Kureta sighed. "You judge straw too much."

The four walked away from the castle, not really minding anymore about being caught since they could tell that the Queen was…busy. However, they didn't notice that there was a big fat weirdass watching them as he ate a cake in one bite.

"Picklocks, huh?" He gulped the last of his cake. "Whatever, gotta run to the Queen and report this to him."

He ran to the Queen as fast as possible, albeit slow because of the entire cake he ate in just a minute or so.

Once he arrived in front of the doors, he burst in.

On the throne was a bored-looking Jesse Hatosifur with his chin resting on his hand. Mark laid on the floor at the Queen's feet, passed out due to their previous activities.

"Your Majesty!" Johann yelled. "Leax is the human! And he left with the Cheshire Cat and Hatter!"

Jesse stood up and glared at the Knave. "That's it!" he yelled. "You're fired! Can't you even do _one_ fucking thing right!?" _Tsk._ "Whatever."

He kicked the sleeping Hare and ordered him to go after Alex, Kureta, and Stephen. Mark nodded and ran off while Jesse beheaded the ex-Knave of Hearts right on the spot.

* * *

**One half-assed piece of shit I wrote while studying CLE. Lol, screw the whales. |||OTL**


	6. Speech, Wolves, and Identical Twins

**V. Speech, Wolves, and Identical Twins**

**By the way, there is no arrow shit, since Kureta doesn't use them, so I'll try my best to make a way that he would piss off the Crystal Card Guards or something. Sword, maybe? Lol.**

** I'm also going to change Aniki's way of speaking. God, this is so hard, learning EModE on the spot and all. _ I need a teacher o.0**

* * *

"A pain the ass, a pain in the ass, a pain in the ass!" Kureta exclaimed as he ran along side Alex and Stephen. "That fucking fat ass of a Knave better get beheaded for catching us!"

"I never heard you swore so much before…," Stephen mumbled.

Alex's fatigue increased with every step he took as he ran with the other two, away from the Red Card Guards and that Mark guy. Unlike Stephen and Kureta, he was human, so his strength decreases far faster than Wonderlanders.

Kureta noticed that Alex was lagging behind so he slowed up to the human's pace and picked him up like a potato sack and continued running.

'_**This**_ _Kureta is definitely not like the one I know_,' Alex thought, '_since the normal one can't even carry our other friend Rian, who weighs like a_ _**fucking feather**_**.**'

They reached a clearing where the Red Card Guards caught up to them and cornered them there. When the three thought that Mark and the living cards would capture them then and there, the entire place became foggy and they heard the clanging of spears being dropped unto the hard ground.

"Gyaaaaaaahhhh!"

"Monster!"

"Hurry! Runnnn!"

"Hey, wait for meeee!"

Once the cries of the Card Guards and March Hare died down, the fog disappeared and a shadow loomed before them.

The shadow belonged to the Blue Caterpillar, Aniki Sapienta.

"Aniki…," Stephen mumbled. "The hell are you doing here?"

"Thee durst to have a _deito_ with the Cheshire Cat, eh, Hatter?" Aniki wondered aloud, blowing smoke form his hookah.

Alex coughed at the smoke then looked at the Blue Caterpillar weirdly. "Why does he seem rather strict right now?"

Kureta laughed nervously. "It's better than his Deadly Sins side…," he whispered.

"Hm?" Aniki snapped, looking towards the Cat. "I am sure I heard something cometh from betwixt thy lips."

Kureta started laughing maniacally, moving his arms around nervously in weird gestures. "Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha~ It's nothing, nothing! I swear!"

Aniki glared at Kureta for a moment then whipped his head towards Alex. "You…"

"Eh?"

"Dost thou have any idea what thou hath wrought?!" Aniki asked the human with a slightly louder voice. "Because of thy presence, Wilfre hath taken action!" The Caterpillar sighed. "I trow it best that ye head to the White Queen."

Alex cocked his head in confusion. "Who's the White Queen?"

"Thither art a lot to explain," the Wonderlander stated. "Would ye like to stay hither first before thee shallt seek the Queen?"

Before Alex could answer, and before Stephen and Kureta could complain about the now surprisingly heavy weight in their hands, precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water, otherwise known as _snow_, fell down slowly onto the ground from the sky.

The human had never seen snow before, since there was no winter in his country, so he was actually quite amazed by it. He held out his hands and watched as the flakes landed on his open palms and stayed there longer than it should have before it slowly melted.

"…Doesn't Zuria mean _snow_?" Alex asked out loud.

Aniki looked at the human for a moment then blew smoke towards him. "Yes, in Basque, it dost."

"What's with the sudden question?" Stephen asked the boy as he helped Kureta with his load.

"Zuria. Luke Zuria. The White Rabbit," the human explained after fanning the second-hand lung cancer away from his face. "He was the one who brought me here." He faced the Blue Caterpillar and asked, "Any idea how I can get _out_?"

The Caterpillar merely tapped his mouth with his hookah once, in thought.

Silence.

"Thou may be able to use the Looking-Glass," he finally said, "to return from whence thee came. But I doubt thee would be able to fulfill the task without a fere. Also, there are two Looking-Glasses—one with the Queen of Hearts and one with that person."

"Can't you explain more?"

"Like I said, there's overmany. Thou shall have to stay here first for me to explain fully."

"Gaaaaahhh…"

* * *

"Luuuuukeeeee~" the Queen of Hearts purred. "I have a favor for youuuu~"

"What is it now, Jesse?" the White Rabbit said indifferently. He was reading a book, and it was actually getting very interesting. Why'd this Queen have to interrupt everything he ended up enjoying?

Jesse pouted. He hated it when his servant was playing hard to get—of course, Luke wasn't, but this was the Queen of Hearts we were talking about. Of course he'd think that.

"Come on…!~" he insisted. "Didn't I tell you to serve me?" Then the Queen added with an evil voice, "Or do you want die?"

_Tch._ Luke looked at the Queen expectantly, waiting for him to give him orders.

Jesse eye-smiled and got off of Luke, standing up straight. "Now for your task!" He rubbed his hands together, rather excited. "I need you to go and find that human, with your good sense of smell and hearing and all."

"Rude bitch."

Jesse opened an eye and looked at the White Rabbit. "Did you. Say something. Luke."

"Nothing, nothing! Just get on with it."

"So. You'll go and find the human, and along with that, I need you to find that person. I'm sure you know who he is."

The Queen opened both of his eyes and looked at Luke, who was looking back at him, silently saying, '_If I didn't know who that bastard was, I wouldn't be the White Rabbit._'

Jesse finally grinned and waved him off. "Well then, off you go!~ Make sure you get that Vorpal ring back from that person, OK?"

Luke left the room through the back exit, book in hand, waving his hand both as a farewell and to answer the Queen's question.

* * *

"Oh, and, here's a new sword for thee," Aniki said, handing the Cheshire cat a rapier with a golden handle sheathed inside a black scabbard. "The Duchess wrought it and besought that I take it to you."

Kureta took it slowly from the Blue Caterpillar and stared at it. "…I see." He stared at the handle for a moment.

Stephen wondered where a sword would be of use to the Cat.

"Now, thou musn't tarry. Hurry along to the White Queen." Aniki waved a gloved hand at them. "I'll be going now."

And with that, he disappeared.

Alex suddenly remembered something that he'd been meaning to ask the blue-haired Wonderlander. "Wait, who was _that person_ that Aniki kept talking about?"

Stephen looked at the Human incredulously. "You're only asking _now_ after all he's explained?!"

The human shrugged indifferently. "I was hoping you guys knew as well."

"Well, we do…"

"Then who _IS that person_?"

"He's W—"

There was a soft but audible splat heard.

The two slowly turned around to see…

…Kureta looking blankly at a Crystal Card Guard, his arm outstretched. And in his hand was the sword the Duchess gave him.

His head slightly tilted to the side, making the bangs to the center of his face cover his right eye. He continued digging the sword into the Card Guard, making something like blue electricity come out of the wound—probably what you could count as the blood of the Crystal Card.

The Cheshire Cat's eyes widened and he stepped back from the Card Guard, dropping the sword on the ground.

"What…?"

'_Was I possessed?_' Kureta instantly thought. '_What happened? Why did I…_'

"Kureta!" he heard Stephen shout.

He snapped out of his thoughts and took note of the Crystal Card Guards approaching him, saying things like, "You done it now, you little bitch!" and "First you and the Tweedles trick us into eating spoiled pie, now this?!"

_THWAP!_

A throwing knife came out of nowhere and hit the neck of a Card Guard about to grab Kureta's fist, and the Guard collapsed.

Cystal Cards looked behind them and saw Stephen with his arm outstretched. A few of the Cards left Kureta alone and approached the Hatter. The knife wasn't much of use because it didn't let the Guards leave the Cheshire Cat alone.

The remaining Card Guards were about to charge at a confused Kureta when suddenly…

"Look, a unicorn!"

All of the Crystal Cards looked towards the sky and asked, "Where?! Where!?"

Alex was pointing towards the distance, where a pink unicorn with small rainbows on its body, with a glistening horn on its head, stood proudly.

The Crystal Card Guards ran towards the unicorn and began repeatedly asking for an autograph from it.

"That was…weird," Kureta mumbled.

"Oh, you don't say?!" Stephen yelled at the Cat. "Who the hell was the one who stabbed a soldier, again?!"

"I didn't do it!" the Cheshire yelled back. "I had no memory of what happened! I was probably being controlled."

"Guys, stop it!" Alex warned them. "Let's just go in the Queen's castle already."

The trio ran inside the White Queen's castle where they saw…

Practically nothing.

It was just a room made entire of cardboard. The room was also badly made, since the so-called 'furniture' was all just awful paintings that were all smudged as well. And what could be a table looked like a thick, squiggly letter T.

"What the hell…?"

Wolves with messy, gray fur appeared out of nowhere, barring their sharp teeth at the trio. They charged at the three at once, making it difficult to get away from them.

"Ahhhhh…! Don't hurt the wolves!" Kureta said, holding onto Stephen's arm so as to refrain him from throwing another knife at the mammals.

Stephen gave the Cheshire Cat a weird look as if he was someone who lost his cat ears and tail and they were replaced by a person with tailless ass and a human-eared head. "Are you fucking kidding me?! They're _carnivorous._ And you want me to _stop them from eating us_?!"

The Cat pouted for a moment before releasing the Hatter and letting him kill a few of the wolves.

/_VROOOOOOOOOOOM!_/

A massive vehicle the size of an African elephant appeared from the open side of the cardboard. It had eight wheels the size of a human and it had a huge open box behind it, the truck bed. It was a pickup truck, and it was ramming over several wolves.

The childish driver/s controlling the truck were laughing happily inside while simply driving around in circles.

Once every wolf in the area was killed (and Kureta finished emo corner-ing over the canines), the truck stopped its crazy drive-around and the door flew open.

Out came a pair of identical twins—both male. It _would_ be hard to tell who was who, but since there was a color theme to their clothes, and their bangs are to the opposite sides of their faces, so it was more or less easy to tell them apart (if they even knew who they were, in the first place, lol).

The taller of the two (who was only taller by 2cm) had brownish-blond hair with his bangs slightly to the left of his face and a red beret on his head, and a pair of green eyes. He had on a red coat that went up to above his ankles over a black vest and a gray, button-up blouse. He had red shorts going down to his knees being held up by a brown belt, and a pair of brown boots with red laces together with striped stockings.

The other had brownish-blond hair with his bangs slightly to the right of his face and a blue beret on his head, and a pair of green eyes. He had on a blue coat that went up to a few centimeters above his ankles over a black vest and a white, button-up blouse. He had blue shorts going down to his knees being held up by a brown belt, and a pair of brown boots with blue laces together with striped stockings.

"Look, Cairo-Dee!" the one in red said. "It's a traveling group. I think."

"No shit, Sherlock," the one in blue, Cairo-Dee, replied. "Ah, so much wolves here, ne, Carlo-Dum?"

Carlo-Dum looked at his twin. "Well, how else could've I gotten here without killing the wolves first?"

"That's why you should let the younger twin drive!" Cairo-Dee puffed his cheeks.

"….D-don't do that, it's cute, bro. Also, you'll end up driving us over a cliff if I let you drive!"

"No, I won't! And you did so just this morning."

"Al—mo—st."

"Yeah, and almost gotten us killed! What do you think the Queen'd say, hm?"

"Well—"

_Tsk._ "Tweedles, stop it," Stephen interrupted. "You're getting kinda annoying."

Cairo-Dee cocked his head to the side before lightly pushing his older brother forward. "We're the Tweedle Twins!"

The left twin started, "I'm Tweedle Carlo-Dum—"

"—and I'm Tweedle Cairo-Dee," the right twin finished.

"And we're identical twins!~" the two said in sync, making a pose where they were back to back (C-Dee to the left and C-Dum to the right) and they both had their respective hand-sides extended to the front.

Carlo-Dum placed a finger to his cheek. "So who do we have here…" He faced Kureta and pointed that finger towards him. "The Cheshire Cat."

Cairo-Dee pointed a finger towards Stephen this time. "The Hatter."

"Then…" The twins faced Alex with both fingers extended. The duo gasped. "A HUMAN!?"

Kureta and Stephen made that annoying '_shh_' sound people make when they try to make others quiet and not succeeding at doing so to shut the two up.

Suddenly, something rather odd happened.

Kureta and Stephen disappeared, and the Tweedle Twins were knocked unconscious and were now lying on the ground for who knows why.

Alex looked around him, looking for the two who were with him earlier.

"What…?"

And that was the last thing he said before he felt a blow to his head and saw nothing but black.

* * *

**OK. So, I said this thing over there regarding the twins and respective hand-sides. That was made up on the spot and I have no idea what I was even writing. It was rushed.**

**So… Respective hand-sides being Carlo with his left hand since he's left-handed and the left twin Cairo with his right hand since he's right-handed and the right twin. Hope I made sense.**


	7. The White Queen, That Person, and Runes

**VI. The White Queen, That Person, and Driplings**

* * *

Stephen hung from the edge of the cliff he was suddenly hanging on to for who knows why. He reached up with his free hand and grasped a rock, struggling to get up. And once he was able to get up, he heard a scream below him.

"Stephen!"

It was Kureta's voice.

He whipped around and looked down the cliff, where he saw the Cheshire cat loosely hanging from a branch that sprouted from the dangerously sharp rocks. The Hatter gasped.

"Kureta!"

The human-eared male quickly dropped to his knees and reached down the edge. He extended his arm towards the cat-eared boy. "Kureta, grab my hand!"

Apparently, it was one of those times where the Cat was weaker than usual (yes, he's weak, boo-hoo). And it was the worst possible time ever for that to happen.

Kureta tried his best to reach up to his friend's hand and grab it, but in fear of breaking the branch he was holding on to.

_Tch._

Stephen reached further down and grasped the hand of the irritation of his life. (You have no idea how much I'm laughing at that phrase.) He pulled the boy up and collapsed with him on solid ground with Kureta's head lightly resting on Stephen's arm.

Silence.

"…You weigh so light. Drink your milk, will you?" the Hatter suddenly said.

The Cheshire hissed. "Milk is disgusting." He got up form his position beside the Hatter.

Stephen got up as well. "But you're a cat."

"So?"

"…Yeesh, so picky."

"Whatever," Kureta finally said. "Let's just go back and check on Alex. Who knows what could've happen to that human!" He began dragging the Hatter along. "Hurry up, will you?! If we get that kid harmed, we're dead!"

'_Suddenly on his Mother Figure mode…,_' the Hatter thought. '_Tch._'

When they arrived at where they last saw the Tweedles and Alex, they saw a pick-up truck with a pair of unconscious twins at its foot and no Alex.

Kureta shrieked, "Where'd he go?!"

The Tweedle-Dee twin's eyes screwed shut even harder before he slowly opened his eyes completely. He sat up and noticed the absence of Alex. He shook his older twin's arm, repeatedly saying, "Carlo-Dum. Carlo-Dum!"

Once the Tweedle-Dum twin was awake, he stood up and helped his younger brother up after.

"We have to head to the White Queen," Carlo-Dum said, rubbing his eyes. "The human is gone, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with _that person_."

* * *

Alex tried his best to wriggle out of the _unbreakable_ _ropes, _the man dragging him had said, that were tied around his wrists, and arms and body. But no such luck whatsoever. "This is rape, I tell you! Now let me go! Why the hell are you even taking hostage of me?! And who are you, anyway?"

_Tsk._ "Would you at least _shut up for a second_?" the young man snapped.

"Well, why would I _not_ scream if I was being taken hostage of?!" Alex retorted. "And you never answered my question."

The unknown young man's frown deepened. "I obviously borrowed you from your little friends there because you are a human. Why else? …And it's Wilfre."

Alex finally shut up for while.

—…_ehem_, **for a while**.

"What kind of name _is_ that? Wilfre? What, did you not like the name _Wilfred_ so you removed the _d_ and just made is _Wilfre_? I laugh to all the Wilfres of the world. HA-HA-HA. Oh, wait. There's only _one_! And he's the guy who didn't like the _d_ in _Wilfred_, too! My, oh, my…" The human didn't even stop to breathe while saying all of that.

Finally, Wilfre lost all of his patience. He turned to his left, lifted the young human up and threw the boy across of him, making him hit a tree rather harshly. "Listen, brat. I didn't kidnap you to listen to your insults of my name, but to _kill_ you. Now _shut the fuck up _or you die on the spot."

Wilfre's little rant was enough for poor Alex to completely shut up, and let the black-haired male continue to drag him away.

* * *

The Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and Tweedle Twins snuck into the White Queen's castle through the back door. (A good thing that the Twins lived there or who knows where they would end up passing through.) Of course, they had to completely avoid every single Crystal Card Guard, since they were all looking out for the "cat-eared male who stabs", and if he would really return.

Once they arrived in front of huge double doors, they barged in to see the White Queen—who turned out to be a male after all, just like the Queen of Hearts—painting a picture of a twisted Christmas town.

"White Queen! White Queen!" Cairo-Dee called out.

"_That person_ stole your Vorpal pendant, right? And the Queen of Hearts' Vorpal stone, right?" Carlo-Dum asked.

The White Queen turned around and faced them with a rather questioning face. The Queen had long, white hair almost reaching his back with bangs framing his head and to the center of his face, with black eyes. He wore a collared, white coat that was unbuttoned with a ribbon tied around the its neck over a white, button-up blouse and a pair of gray-ish/white-ish/whatever-ish pants, and a pair of white, leather shoes.

"Ah, yes… The Vorpal pendant that _that person_ stole," the White Queen said softly. "Well, you need essence or DNA of a human in the form of driplings to activate its power. And if the pendant isn't in the right hands, Darkness will eventually take over Wonderland."

The four began saying things at the same time.

"So it doesn't matter if they're a male or female?!" (Cairo-Dee)

"As long as they're human, it will work, then…?!" (Carlo-Dum)

"What if they're too young?!" (Kureta)

"Will the human _die_, or…" (Stephen)

The White Queen arched his eyebrows at the sudden outburst of the four teens. "What's wrong?"

"_That person_ kidnapped a human. And we don't really know where they are at this moment, actually…," Carlo-Dum explained.

"Yeah, 'cause these two Sleeping Beauties were knocked out before Alex got kidnapped," Stephen said, making the phrase '_Sleeping Beauties_' bleed with sarcasm.

"And these two were teleported to a cliff and nearly died." Cairo-Dee looked over at Kureta, who simply shrugged.

Out of the blue, a cloud of azure and hoary smoke appeared. Everyone but the White Queen coughed at the smoke and fanned it away. When the gray cloud cleared, Aniki Sapienta the Blue Caterpillar was revealed, sitting cross-legged on his mushroom.

"White Queen," he said, "_that person_ is in the midst of the Midnight Forest, and he was dragging a human named Alex who looked pretty scared to death…" The Caterpillar slowly turned his head towards the four teens in the room. "Ah… Why aren't thee with Alex, hm?"

The four laughed nervously.

The White Queen stepped forward and said, "You four will be accompanied by the Blue Caterpillar to go and get the human back. Just a quick trip in the Midnight Forest, then just grab the human back before _that person_ can even touch Alex.

"I must remind you, though, that _that person_ knows many types of magic. He has the ability to make arcane runes that would get driplings from the human so he'd be able to succeed in placing Darkness over Wonderland and so he'd be able to kill Alex at the same time. He also has the ability to kill anyone at his command, and control anyone he wants to.

"However, there are some things that can prevent being killed by the Death Wave he makes. Usually prized things that have—ehem—love poured into it. One of these examples would be the sword that the Cheshire Cat has just received form the Duchess, then the Twins' guns, and probably even the Hatter's hat for all we know."

The Queen began making a shooing motion so that the group would leave her throne room. (He probably doesn't want anyone disturbing him when he paints.)

Aniki somehow made his mushroom move towards the throne room and out to the hallway, with the rest of the Wonderlanders trailing behind him.

When they exited the castle, they were met by a group of Card Guards ranting about a certain cat-eared male that wields a sword.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" one of them shouted. "Hey, it's him! The one who stabbed my best friend! You little bitch, you'll pay for what you—"

_THWAP!_

_Tsk_. "I thought you'd learn your lesson when I threw a knife at one of you guys when you attempted to kill us. Apparently you didn't." The Hatter reached over to the scabbard hanging at Kureta's hip. "I guess you need a sword to be thrown at you instead…" Stephen slightly smirked.

The Crystal Card Guard was about to yell at him again when Aniki said, "Stephen, stop. I thought thou knew better." He faced the Card Guard. "And you. If thou art really loyal to the Queen, I suggest you stop picking at people who are actually siding with the Queen. _Now would thou please continue guarding the castle_."

The Guard gulped before grumbling and returning to his station, quietly watching the party of 5 enter the Midnight Forest.

* * *

Carlo-Dum, Cairo-Dee, Kureta, Stephen, and Aniki were looking towards a tall young man with slightly messy hair, a pair of dark eyes, and a pale complexion. He had on a semi-burnt, black cloak over a diamond-patterned, long-sleeved shirt that was black, red, and white in color, and pair of black slacks tucked in black boots with white straps and white heels.

The young man was in the middle of dragging Alex, apparently, but once he noticed the presence of the other Wonderlanders, he turned around and asked them, "Who are you…?"

Alex looked at his other friends, obviously silently saying, _I need fucking help, get me untied, oh god please, help me, this guy looks like he wants to eat me, help_.

But apparently, none of them were paying attention to him, since they all just stared back at the young man. One thing to take note of was that their eyes had no irises, and they had a very blank face, with the exception of Kureta and, oddly enough, Cairo-Dee.

They all snapped back to attention, and their eyes were all normal now. But Cairo-Dee looked extremely different now.

The Tweedle-Dee twin still retained his hair and eyes, but there was now a strange, black tattoo over and under his left eye, and a black bandana was tied around his mouth to cover it. His coat was now black with its edges slightly burnt with a belt running across form his shoulders to his hip over a dark gray, button-up blouse and a pair of black pants tucked in, again, black combat boots with dark gray laces.

Cairo-Dee chuckled evilly and creepily. "Keh, what should I do with them, I wonder?!"

The others just stared at her, dumb-founded. Who the fuck was this and what did he do with the real Tweedle-Dee twin?!

"Cairo! What happened to you?!" Carlo-Dum exclaimed. He whipped his head towards the other young man and growled, "You little bitch! What did you do to my twin?!"

The former's twin grinned. "Big brother, I am now in _that person_'s control!~"

Alex gasped. "'_That person_'?! So you mean this guy—Wilfre—was _that person_ you guys kept talking about?!"

Wilfre gave a small smile. "Just try and get rid of them, Tweedle-Dee."

Cairo-Dee grinned once more, nodding. He took out his shot gun and shot the rest with his bullet magic, using the bullet _Shadow Shot_

_Shadow Shot_

A bullet that shoots shadows that can pierce through you. The shadows usually scream and sometimes eat a bit out of you. Can mildly hurt Wonderlanders but can severely hurt Humans.

Aniki, apparently, had this force field protecting him and his mushroom, so the shadows didn't really bother him. The shadows didn't bother the rest, either, because Carlo-Dum took out his pistol just in time and shot using his _Shield Bullet_.

_Shield Bullet_

Just as the name applies, it shields you from other magic or anything that can harm the user and the ones behind the bowl-like shield.

Cairo-Dee hissed at his twin brother. "You may be my twin… But that doesn't give you fucking permission to _block my bullets_ and make me _betray the orders of Wilfre_!" He began shooting rapidly at them using normal bullets.

Carlo-Dum motioned for the others to leave. "I'll handle him! You guys get Alex back!"

The rest nodded and left the two alone.

The Tweedle-Dum twin frowned as he dodged the bullets being shot at him and shooting his own bullets. "Why the hell are you suddenly cursing?! You don't even curse that much! What happened to my real twin?!" He glared at the figure a few feet away from him. "You're definitely not Cairo-Dee…"

The other twin grinned wickedly. "Oh, who ever said that?!~ Now bloody fucking hell get outta my way!" Cairo-Dee continued shooting his bullets at him, this time using two shotguns, while dodging every single metal that aimed at him.

Carlo-Dum threw away his pistol to the side of him and took out a sword that came from nowhere (probably from under his coat). He ran forward, towards his younger sibling, and slashed his sword.

Cairo-Dee began using his shotgun as a makeshift sword and blocked the sword from hitting his face.

The Tweedle-Dum twin gritted his teeth.

"_You are not my brother!_"

* * *

"Guahhhh…!" Alex shrieked. "Nggghh… Aggghhhh…!"

He was lying on the ground in deep pain and felt his skin prickling. Arcane runes were all over his body due to the spell that Wilfre cast on him; _Scriptural Pain_.

"Wha… What is…this…?!" Alex managed to say through the intense pain all over his being. He grabbed at his neck and screamed in agony.

"It's called _Scriptural Pain_. When cast on someone, arcane runes appear on you and you'll have to endure pain greater than your wildest imagination," the raven explained, smirking, as he continued hovering his hands over the human so as to make the pain greater.

"Master Wilfreee!~" a voice said from a far, coming closer. "I've killed theeeem!~"

Said person looked up and saw Cairo-Dee approaching him, that twisted grin still plastered on his face.

The grin on the Tweedle's face disappeared as he placed his arm forward with his shotgun in hand, aiming at the black-haired male. "Fell for it?"

Wilfre closed his eyes for a moment before throwing playing cards he produced out of nowhere in front of him as he heard the gun shot. The cards completely stopped the bullets from hitting him. "Not at all."

The Tweedle-Dee twin glanced at the human as the screams of agony that came from Alex stopped. The _Scriptural Pain_ spell that Wilfre cast on him finally broke. Alex stood up and ran away, meeting up with Stephen, Kureta, Carlo-Dum, and Aniki, who all stood by an old willow tree that grew heart-shaped fruits that somehow stayed in water bubbles.

Kureta was just standing there with a half-smile (well, the Cheshire cat needs to stop grinning at some time, right?), staring at his sword, and beside him the Hatter, leaning on the tree eating one of its fruits. Of course, Aniki was still sitting on his mushroom, smoking his hookah, and to the right of the Caterpillar was Carlo-Dum, who was sitting glumly waiting for his twin.

"…Hey, may I ask, who are you?" Alex asked, breaking the silence. "And what's with that guy who suddenly became evil because he was being controlled by that Wilfre-person? Then now he's on our side again…"

Carlo-Dum sighed. "I'll explain who I am once my twin is back."

The human nodded. "You look like someone I know…"

Stephen finished off the fruit he was eating. "Like I said, the Wonderlanders here are counterparts with the humans in your world. We'll obviously look the same as your friends, whoever they are. We probably have the same first name but a different last name. I don't know." He waved his hand dismissively.

Cairo-Dee came back to where the rest said they'd meet up. "I'm sorry… I let Wilfre get away…"

The crunching of a leaf was heard.

"Don't worry," a voice said. The group looked towards where the voice came from and saw a white-haired young man—it was the White Queen. "As long as he doesn't have any human extract, the Vorpal pendant will have no use to him."

Alex was mortified once he heard those words. "Extract of a human?! What does _that _mean? …And what's this Vorpal pendant that you—wait, who _are _you?—are talking about?"

Angelo smiled softly. "For starters, I am the White Queen, Angelo Crystalle. Now, as for the extract of a human… Well, you'll have to kill a human to get its extract. But an alternative way to do so is to cast _Scriptural Pain_ on him. Then you'd be able to get the driplings."

Alex thought for a moment. _Scriptural Pain… _Wait a minute.

"But Wilfre just cast _Scriptural Pain_ on me a while ago!" Alex exclaimed. "Does… Does that mean he's gotten that extract already…?"

The White Queen thought for a moment. "It depends, actually… Did your skin bleed or did the pain just vanish all of a sudden?"

"Vanished.."

He nodded. "He only has 10% of the human extract that he needs, which is 30 driplings. One dripling is as big as the average teardrop that you make. So he needs 27 more driplings so as to use the power of the Vorpal pendant."

Alex groaned and dropped to the ground.

Beyond the trees was the White Rabbit, Luke Zuria. He was still doing the mission that the fucking Queen of Man Whores gave him.

_Tsk._ "I'm too late. _That person_ is already gone."

He turned to leave when he saw him—Wilfre.

The black-haired male glared at the rabbit-eared male.

"Luke the White Rabbit… Hn."

Wilfre raised his arm and knocked the boy unconscious and began dragging him away.

* * *

**I think I'm being too mean by transporting Kureta and Stephen to a cliff and nearly killing them.**

…**Lol.**


	8. Shared Rooms, Warnings, and a Nightmare

**VII. Shared Rooms, Warnings, and a Nightmare**

* * *

**I'm going to add something cruel to this chapter—a nightmare for Alex.**

**Lol.**

**Muwahafahasa.**

* * *

Angelo told them while they were having supper that they were to set out the following morning to look for Wilfre—so that Alex would be able to get home and so that they would be able to prevent Darkness from taking over Wonderland and destroying it.

They were allowed to sleep in the White Queen's castle, but they weren't able to have their own rooms due to the many other rooms having an actual purpose instead of just an extra bedroom for guests that might never even come at all.

There were six beds in the room, each across from the other, their headboards leaning on 2 of the walls of the room. The room being a part of the White Queen's castle, it was of course pretty old fashioned, the framework of the beds being made of wood, as well as the trunks at the foot of each bed that held their things. The trunks seemed to be able to transport some clothes from the Wonderlander's residences in Wonderland—with the exception of Alex, so he had to borrow from one of them.

A sigh. "I don't get why we have to be in the same room…," Carlo-Dum wondered out loud, changing to a position where he sat on the bed with his legs extended in front of him. He had changed into red pajamas with long sleeves and stripes.

Alex shrugged from across the Tweedle-Dum twin. "I'm fine with it." Since he obviously didn't live in Wonderland, he had to borrow some clothes from Aniki. His sleeping attire now consisted of a red top with long sleeves paired with blue pajama pants.

Two beds away from Carlo-Dum was Aniki, was still wearing his boots and coat looking rather reluctant and rather uncomfortable. "I want my mushroom back…" He had his ridiculously straight back slouched—it was obvious he didn't want to do anything more than reunite with his precious mushroom since it apparently made him feel normal.

"Did you even take a bath yet?" The three turned their heads to see Cairo-Dee leave the bathroom half naked, approaching his own bed. His hair was dripping wet and he seemed not to care at all.

Alex and Aniki looked away and continued resting but Carlo-Dum continued to stare at his twin brother.

Cairo-Dee bended forward and opened his trunk to get some clothes out while saying, "Aww, Aniki feels bad that he can't be Mario tonight~ Haha."

"And stop staring at me, Carlo-Dum, you're being a full-blown pervert. Warau~"

Carlo-Dum shrugged but continued looking at his younger brother.

Alex suddenly noticed something odd from what Cairo-Dee said. "You know who Mario is?"

The Tweedle-Dee twin straightened himself and walked back to the bathroom as he said, "Yeah, he's the old, fat plumber guy who isn't racist since he's an Italian plumber created by Japanese people who speaks English and looks like a Mexican." He opened the door and an annoyed yell was heard.

"At least fucking close the door, dude!" Kureta screamed from inside. He was the last to take a shower (meaning stay under there for about 5 minutes or so since he's too lazy to actually take a bath properly sometimes), since he was being very lethargic and refused to take a bath since he didn't want to get off the bed yet.

"Yeah, yeah," Cairo-Dee said, closing the door behind him.

The door opened revealing Stephen, who wore a black t-shirt that had an unnoticeable design that looked like vines or roses or whatever with sleeves ending at the elbows together with a pair of dark gray pajama pants. That precious hat of his was on his head as always and he still had his boots on which he seemed to be lazy to actually take off. "What's with the noise?" he asked as he pushed up his glasses.

Carlo-Dum seemed to slightly smirk as he said, "Younger brother went out of the bathroom out in only a towel."

Stephen shrugged while going down the isle and towards his bed. "So? What's the big deal, we're all guys here. Not like we're gay or anything." He sat on his bed for a moment before groaning out loud. "I want tea…! Gh.." He fell back on his bed and covered his face with a pillow.

"But you just drank tea dur—"

A groan-sounding yell was heard from the bathroom, cutting off what Alex was about to say, and stopping Stephen from unlacing his boots properly.

All eyes were on the door to the comfort room.

"Arrrrgggghhhh! Cairo-Dee! Give those clothes back or I'm gonna fucking murder you ya little bitch!" Kureta screamed.

"Wha-hat? No way!" the Tweedle-Dee twin snickered.

Cairo-Dee came running out of the door, laughing. His attire consisted of a dark purple shirt with minimal design paired with shorts reaching up to the knees. He jumped onto his bed as the Cheshire Cat followed him out with only a towel on. But he wore it weirdly, just draping it on his shoulders and holding the tails of the towel together, kinda like what a child would do. He was also holding up some…what was that, a hammer? Where the hell did he get a hammer in a bathroom…

He was about to throw it at his friend while shouting, "Why you little fucktard of a Tweedle-Dee twi—" He looked around the room, staring back at the eyes that stared at him then looked away boredly.

Kureta inhaled deeply before running towards Cairo-Dee and dragging him by the ankle back in there.

A loud crash came, startling Tweedle-Dum, making him stand abruptly, about to rush over the door. But he sat down again and waited for something to happen.

"Oww…!"

'_That was Cairo-Dee's voice!_' Carlo-Dum screamed in his head.

_Haaahh… _"Never knew you were so—"

"Shut up! You got your clothes back, now give me _mine_."

A rustle. "Here."

There was a small splish-splashing sound before Cairo-Dee walked out wearing the same style of pajamas as Carlo-Dum, except it was blue. A few moments after the Tweedle-Dee twin went out, Kureta went out wearing a dark purple shirt paired with dark blue shorts going just above his knees.

Stephen took one look at the Cheshire Cat who jumped on his bed a few times before dropping down and resting, now suddenly too lazy to move, and started chuckling like hell.

"And what are _you _laughing about, Hatter?" Kureta snapped. He didn't sit up to glare at Stephen, though, since he was obviously too lazy to do so.

… _Tsk._ "Nothing."

* * *

Alex tightened his already shut eyes before opening them slowly.

—It was still nighttime. …Fuck.

He got up and felt his stomach grumble.

His hunger was probably the reason why he woke up, but it could also be that theory that Stephen—the human one—found out about then told the rest of the group. The theory was that, if someone wakes up in the middle of the night (around 1 or 2AM), it means someone's watching him or her. It seriously scared the hell outta Alex at the moment since—he looked towards the small, wooden clock on his bedside table to the left of him—it was 2.11AM.

The young human walked towards the door and left the room he was just in and arrived in a hallway.

The hallway had white-carpeted floors and white brick walls with portraits running along it with columns separating each portrait. They were paintings of, what Alex guessed, were Angelo's ancestors.

As Alex walked along the hall, some math problem that fitted the number of males and females for some reason, and he didn't even know why he actually remembered something from school.

Apparently, the sum of females and males that had their portrait hanging on the walls was 28. The number of male portraits is four more than twice the number of female portraits. (Lol, try figuring that out.)

After solving the problem for a while and giving up half way, he came upon the double doors of the kitchen. She attempted to push open one of the doors but wasn't so successful in doing so.

"Ah, what brings you here, little human~"

The young human turned around to see someone who appeared out of fucking nowhere. He was a young man was pretty tall with messy hair colored dirty blond with a pair of amethyst eyes. He wore a black leather jacket over a white shirt and dark blue jeans tucked in a pair of combat boots that would look like the type even Stephen would steal. Around his neck was a chain necklace with something like a, what, ring?, at the end of it.

He smirked, combing his bangs back. "Yo~ Name's Dylan." He stepped forward, making Alex step backward, wary of this Dylan person who actually seemed like the player type who'd fuck as many girls as he wanted, but now looked like a gay rapist who would want to fuck as many _guys_ as he wanted.

"Hey, not like I'm gonna bite, yanno." Dylan stepped forward again, only to be met by a sword being pressed against his neck. The young man looked behind him and saw that it was the Blue Caterpillar who held the sword. Behind Aniki was Stephen who was carrying an unconscious Kureta on his back.

"Ah, well if it isn't the Caterpillar, the Hatter, and an unconscious Cheshire Cat. What brings you Wonderlanders here, hm?~" Dylan smirked. "And what's this, Blue Caterpillar? BDSM? You like it rough now?~"

Aniki glared at the blond. "Thou seems to have a death wish from me for attempting to even touch Alex. Aren't I right?"

As the blue-haired young man spoke with Dylan, Alex faced Stephen and pointed towards the door, signaling he wanted to go in.

The Hatter sighed and walked towards the double doors. He lifted one of Kureta's hands up and unlocked the doors using the Cat's sharp nails.

Once the doors were open, they all went in. Dylan, Alex, and Aniki sat on the chairs positioned around a porcelain table in the middle of the kitchen, while Stephen set Kureta down on one of the chairs then began looking through the cupboards.

"So what happened to him?" Alex asked, referring to Kureta.

Aniki was the one who responded. "Well, we were in the library trying to look up a possible way to retrieve the human extract that Wilfre got from thee using _Scriptural Pain_. But when I went back to where Kureta and Stephen were reading books, I found Stephen trying his best not to drop a Cheshire Cat that seemed to look like he tripped. Apparently, Kureta knocked over a potion that rendered him unconscious."

While the Blue Caterpillar spoke, the Hatter eventually found what he was looking for—a bottle of red liquid. He drank the contents and walked towards Kureta. He opened the Cat's mouth and transferred the liquid into the unconscious guy's mouth by (well, I'm sure you know how knowing _I'm _the one writing this) kissing him, making sure he drank it before separating from him and sitting on the table nonchalantly.

Dylan was surprised of the Hatter's action and was about to say some remark about it when the Cheshire started having a coughing fit. Before opening his eyes, he pawed the back of his cat ears as if he was in his cat form. Kureta blinked a few times before saying, "What's up, Doc?"

Stephen frowned. "You're supposed to be the Cheshire Cat, not Bugs Bunny, you stupid cat!"

The Cheshire Cat simply stuck out his tongue as a response. He turned his head towards the person northwest of him and saw a blond with a wide smirk. "Who the fuck is this?"

Dylan's smirk only grew bigger. "I'm Dylan—"

"—Dylandre, you mean," Stephen interrupted, hiding a smile.

He glared at the Hatter before turning back to Kureta with the same smirk. "Guess what your darling Hatter did to you~ Heheh."

Silence.

"He kissed you. _Warau_."

Kureta shrugged. "I could tell I was unconscious. Kissing someone is another way to transfer something like medicine or any liquid, even blood, into another person's mouth if ever they refuse to drink it or if they're rendered unconscious. He probably just did so to wake me up."

"You're gonna end up sleeping anyways." Dylandre grinned.

This comeback put Kureta at a loss for words.

"Why're you here, anyway?" Aniki spoke up. He still looked annoyed at what Dylan attempted to do to Alex.

Dylan explained how he traveled to random places a lot, and was just on his way home. Apparently, he came across Angelo's castle and sensed a human near by, so he sneaked in the castle.

In the middle of the explanation, Alex raised up his hand as if he were still in his classroom (albeit the fact that it's summer where he really lived). Dylan gestured for him to speak and he said, "How come you can do that?"

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Do what? I could sneak into my cousin's house anytime and just—"

Aniki held up his hand for him to stop. "He means how thee canst sense that he was actually a human."

Dylan nodded and leaned back on his chair and positioned his arms behind his head for support and placed his feat on the table cross-legged. "That's 'cause I'm a magic user."

Alex stared at the person beside him at the moment.

"I'm serious. I can control the winter air to bring me here in the form of mist. And since this place is filled with snow, my magic is quite effective and easy to use here.

"I'm also Angelo's cousin."

_Tch_. "Yeah, you two are very much alike," Stephen said.

Alex suddenly yawned loudly.

"I think it's about time we get back to sleep," Aniki suggested.

Everyone started muttering small agreements, with the exception of Dylan since he doesn't sleep in Angelo's castle—or does he? (*hint hint nudge nudge wink wink jab kick elbow punch knee*)

As they went along the hall—Stephen and Kureta arguing about something involving curtains and creaky bookshelves—Alex began to wonder about how things were going back home. What time is it? Did her friends and family notice that he was missing? Are they looking for him right now?

Finally, they reached the bedroom where the Tweedles were still sleeping. Aniki opened the one of the double doors and they let themselves in. Though, before Alex could get in, Dylan reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

His hand was cold, but not too cold.

"Would you mind if Alex and I have a little talk for a while?" he asked, directing the question towards the Blue Caterpillar mostly.

Aniki glared at Dylandre for a moment before slowly nodding and pushing the other two in the room rather harshly.

"Wha—? Hey!" Alex heard the two complain as Aniki closed the door.

Alex turned around to face Dylan, who actually looked seriously serious and un-Dylan at the moment.

"What will you be doing tomorrow?" he asked in a non-suggestive way.

"Going out," the human replied nonchalantly, shrugging. "The White Queen told us to try and find someone."

"Listen," Dylan said, taking a step towards her. "You'll have to be careful along the way."

"Thanks for the advice."

"No." Dylan bore his eyes into hers. "You have to be really careful with your actions. Don't do anything stupid, because once the Darkness completely takes over Wonderland, this place will _fucking fall_ and I'm sure you don't really have to worry about your friends _here_, but the thing is… Whatever happens to the Wonderland counterparts of the humans happens to the humans themselves.

"Be it a stab at the stomach with a sword, being eaten by a monster, and anything else somewhat half-impossible in your world—the same thing will end up happening to them. The Darkness could even manage to take over your world as well."

Now that was plain bullshit scary.

Alex was about to panic. But after seeing everything that her Wonderland friends have been able to do these few days—Luke's speed, Aniki's smoke magic, Kureta's sword incident (ahah… lol), Stephen's dagger throwing and illusions, the Tweedles' gun magic, and Angelo's ultra-scariness which he showed during dinner time that evening—it was actually a little hard to imagine them being defeated by Wilfre.

He wanted to ask something, though. "Is there any way for it _not_ to happen to the humans in my world?"

"If there _was_ a way, I would've told it to you by now," Dylan replied. He actually sounded honest, and wasn't reluctant to say it—making it all the more truthful. Either that or he was a good liar. "I would suggest your friends not leave you for more than a minute. Although, if they're with you for too long, _that person_ might actually attempt to kill them to get to you."

Alex nodded. He was getting sleepy now, but he was still listening…

"Also…" _Great… When will this gay rapist finally be through?_ "You have a traitor among your friends."

"E-eh…?!" He nearly yelled that out loud.

"At least, you will," Dylan said before disappearing into cold mist and flowing past Alex like a wintry wind, blowing his hair back slightly.

Alex stood there for a moment, replaying their conversation.

"Alex!" Said human turned towards the door of the bedroom and saw Aniki with a less grumpy face, probably because that Dylandre was gone. "Come back in here and get some rest. We'll be leaving early tomorrow, let's get some sleep."

"Ah, yeah… Right…" And so he went back in.

* * *

_He was running. Running away from who knows what that creature may be. All the boy knew was that it was something that growled and screeched and screamed and squealed as loud as it could—its voice was painful to the boy's ears._

_Help. He wanted help. But why is he keeping silent? Why isn't he saying anything to keep him safe from this monster trying to get him? And who was this monster?_

_The young man suddenly felt the earth shaking. What is this? The earth shook hard, making him drop to his knees on the ground._

_He looked around him, trying to see if the monster was still there._

_—It was nowhere to be found._

_And instead there was a volcano erupting—the extremely hot and boiling water coming out from the opening of the giant mass of earth first before melted and burning rock came out. It was fast, the lava was fast, and was fast approaching the boy._

_Why wouldn't he move? What was he doing? He should get out of here before..._

_And that's when he started to fall._

_Falling down down a hole. Falling down down to who knows where._

_And when he thought the trip down was about to end, he felt extreme pain._

_He looked behind him and saw tall and extremly sharp shards of broken glass that went as high as a one-floored house. The shards pierced through his very being, his very soul._

_What…? What was that…? He could hear voice… Voices screaming help. Voices that sounded familiar to him. Voices… Who owned them?_

_ . . ._

_—It was his friends' voices._

_And he saw images of them flashing in front of him, but their opacity was scarce, and they looked like the Aurora Borealis._

_First was _he_ in navy. He in navy held a sword to support himself as he crouched on the ground, panting hard. He had wounds and blood on every part of his body, and his clothes were ruined as fuck. He looked up and glared at whoever was in front of him. The boy in blue suddenly coughed out blood and disappeared as the boy heard a gunshot._

_Next was _he_ in black. He who held onto his arm—or what was left of it—and screaming above to the heavens. He was screaming… But the boy couldn't hear this friend of his. The boy in black's body started bleeding rapidly. Bleeding rapidly everywhere—be it face, arm, legs, body, stomach… Everywhere. Then his eyes widened and his being slowly faded as the boy heard the tearing of skin with, probably, a sword._

_After the boy in black was _he_ in violet. He who hung from a wall with chains attached to his wrists. Every aspect of his body was sprinkled with scarlet—blood dripping down all the wounds in his body. The boy in violet was panting hard, his heart trying its best to pump up blood to go through his circulatory system. But it couldn't anymore... Then he screamed and faded once the boy heard a crack whip._

_The fourth was _he_ in scarlet. He who laid on the ground with throwing knives sticking out of his body, blood oozing out of the wounds they created. Wolves slowly advanced on the boy in scarlet, and his image faded away once the boy heard a howl._

_After him was _he_ in blue. He who hung from the ceiling by a rope, tied by thin but strong wire that easily gave him wounds that hurt like hell. The wire slowly started to get tighter, giving the boy bigger cuts. Blood dripped down his body and down to the unseen floor. The scene disappeared once the boy heard intense tearing of skin._

_Lastly was _he_ in white. He who lay on a table, strapped to it with many belts, a hand reaching over to the boy in white with a knife, making small cuts on the body over and over again, some overlapping others. Another hand showed up with a bottle of alcohol and then poured its contents on all the wounds. This all disappeared after the boy heard a scream._

_The boy being pierced watched all this in a few seconds before all was black._

* * *

**It's seriously to be expected of me to make two guys kiss in this story. Lol, knowing that it's **_**I**_** who am writing it.**

**OK, so, I have a riddle:**

**Alex slept on the bed across Carlo-Dum's, and Aniki slept on the bed to the right of Cairo-Dee. Stephen, meanwhile, slept on the bed to the left of Kureta, and Kureta slept on the bed across Cairo-Dee's. What beds did they sleep in?**


	9. A Trail of Thought, Setting Out, and a

**VIII. A Trail of Thought, Setting Out, and a Silvertte**

* * *

**Oh my fucking god, guess what?! I was already freaking done with this chapter when suddenly, BAM, my Mac just dies on me. IT JUST DIES. And so I charged it and had to write this all over again.**

**And I am just that stupid enough not to save it yet. Why am I so stubborn that I only save the damn file once I'm done writing it?**

**Fuck.**

**What's worse is that I had awesome puns in this chapter and now I FORGOT THEM AND THEY'RE GONE. oAo**

* * *

_The boy being pierced watched all this in a few seconds before all was black._

Alex woke with a start, sitting up on his bed. He was hyperventilating. Thoughts and questions ran across his mind. _What the fuck was that? Why did that nightmare show the possible deaths of his friends? Will it really happen? Was it foresight?_

"…lex…," a voice said in front of him.

_What if… What if…_

"Alex!" Aniki called out to him.

He snapped out of his thoughts and stared back at the Blue Caterpillar. His friend was alive… And he nearly hugged Aniki for that. He wouldn't know _what _he'd do if all his friends were gone. And that dream seemed so real, too…

"Alex, are you OK? You're cold with sweat and you're pale…" Aniki had a deeply worried look on his face. He placed his hands on the human's shoulder, trying to stop him from shaking.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Ah…?" The boy looked around the room and saw faces of slight worry staring back at him.

"Yeah… I'm fine…," Alex reassured his friend.

Aniki still looked concerned. "Are you sure? You're shaking now…"

The brown-haired young man gave a fake smile. "Come on, I'm fine. Just a nightmare… A nightmare…"

Aniki nodded but still wouldn't believe his friend was completely fine. He still walked away and stopped himself from asking any more questions.

* * *

They were all standing outside of Angelo's castle, listening to the White Queen as he continued to drone on and on.

Alex didn't entirely listen to the little speech the White Queen was making. He just kept thinking about that nightmare, and kept seeing images of his friends dying. It was hard to think about how his friends would just die like that, considering all the powers and abilities they had which Alex saw so far.

And he thought about what Dylan had said the night before. _Traitor_… Who could that traitor be? His friends were all less likely to be candidates.

But what were really vivid in the humans mind were how his friends looked and their screams of pain before dying and disappearing. Will their deaths really happen, or is there any way Alex would be able to prevent it?

"Alex, are you listening?" Angelo suddenly said.

Alex looked back at him. "No. I wasn't."

Angelo sighed before continuing on. "As I was saying, you should all stay safe and not leave Alex alone for more than a minute. If you do, Wilfre will most likely have a minion of his near by to capture the human. And don't cause any harm to yourselves—no falling off cliffs, no falling into traps, no being stabbed by a goat—because if you ever get hurt, your human counterparts will be harmed as well. We are connected to our counterparts, and if you guys die, they will as well—what's worse is that they will die the same way you do—be it whipped to death or stabbed at the heart or eaten by a magical creature.

"Wonderland is in _your hands_. If Darkness consumes our land, it will spread throughout the continent and affect the other lands near by. And those lands are where the fictional characters made by humans live. If they die, so will the imagination and memories of the humans of those fictional but real characters.

"If anyone attacks you, just like what happened with Carlo-Dum and Dark Cairo-Dee, just use your magic or any weapons that you have with you." He faced Alex and handed him a rod that glowed purple and seemed to give out electricity once in a while. "Since you have no Mana in you, I will give you this. It's an electric rod that would be able to knock someone unconscious for a few moments—it's to have more time in planning your next move.

Alex took the rod (that sounds so wrong to me, lol…) and hung it on his belt.

"I've also received news from the Northern Wonderlanders that they saw Wilfre dragging a yelling White Rabbit with him. And being just normal Wonderlanders, they didn't interfere with what that person was doing.

"Why'd Wilfre capture him?!" Kureta and Alex asked at the same time.

"I wouldn't know what _that person_ is thinking of, so I have no idea why. You better leave now," the White Queen finally said. "And make sure to bring back the White Rabbit."

"We will, my Queen," Aniki spoke for them, bowing down in respect before they all set off.

* * *

Alex dropped down on the strangely snow-covered ground, fatigue already taking over him after a few hours of walking. (By few hours of walking, I obviously mean 6 hours of walking, lol) "Argghhhh… I'm so tired…!"

The Cheshire Cat followed suit and fell back on the ground. "Ugh, you have cat to be kitten me. This is a pain in the ass, why do we have to go after Wilfre and shit?"

Aniki frowned, at both the pun and how Kureta was tired. "Really now, Cheshire Cat. I would understand it if Alex was tired, but _you_?"

"Let's just get a move on already. The sooner we find that emo bastard, the sooner I can get back to my tea table," Stephen said.

"But I'm tired!" Kureta and Alex whined.

Cairo-Dee looked out into the distance while Stephen and Aniki tried to get Kureta and Alex to stand up, where there was a river with a silver-haired young man sitting by it. He screwed his eyes shut and rubbed them with his fists before opening them again. There really _was_ a silver-haired person there!

He tugged at his twin's sleeve and said, "Carlo-Dum, there's someone over there." He pointed at the silverette.

The Tweedle-Dum twin looked towards where his younger brother was pointing at and called out to the others. "Hey, guys! There's someone there…"

They all looked towards the boy by the river and wondered why he was there. And also wondered how he had silver hair, as well. I mean, sure, Aniki had azure hair, but silver was something else.

"Should I go ask him?" Alex looked up at the Blue Caterpillar.

Aniki tilted his head a bit before saying. "Sure…"

Alex went over to the young man and tapped him on the shoulder while saying, "Hey, uhh…"

Before the human could complete his sentence, the silverette fell head first into the river at the sudden touch on his shoulser. The Tweedles managed to get him out of the river before he floated away downstream in the rather weak current.

"You OK?" Carlo-Dum asked the surprisingly dry person.

"Yeah… I'm fine…," the mysterious young man replied.

Aniki looked at him suspiciously. "What are you doing here? And who are you…?"

"I was just heading back home… My name's Winters." And his name suited him perfectly! He was a slightly tall young man with a few dustings of snow on his shaggy, silver hair and a pair of light blue eyes. He wore a white, long-sleeved, button-up blouse and a pair of light blue pants tucked in a pair of heeled, white boots under an unbuttoned light blue coat.

"And what about you guys?" he asked them.

The Tweedles were the ones who introduced themselves first. They had the same pose as when they introduce themselves to Alex.

"We're the Tweedles!" they said together

"I'm Tweedle Cairo-Dee the Tweedle-Dee twin—," Cairo-Dee said.

"—and I'm Tweedle Carlo-Dum the Tweedle-Dum twin!" Carlo-Dum finished.

"And we are identical twins!" they finally said in sync.

Kureta appeared out of nowhere in front of Winters, grinning. "My name is Kureta, and I'm the Cheshire cat! Nice to meet ya~"

Stephen went over to Kureta and hit the back of his head. "Would you stop disappearing and reappearing, already?!" He cleared his throat before saying, "I'm the Mad Hatter, Stephen Hightopp, who is now deeply annoyed at this damn cat."

A menacing shadow loomed over the two. It belonged to the Blue Caterpillar, who blew smoke out of his hookah before saying, "And I'm the Blue Caterpillar, Aniki Sapienta, who would wish that these two would stop fighting before anything happens." Kureta and Stephen stepped out of Aniki's way, in fear of facing the wrath of the azure-haired young man.

"And I'm Alex!" Alex said, smiling warmly. "I'm their friend."

Out of all the people in the group, who seemed to easily introduce themselves so naturally as if they did this so many times together, Winters stared at Alex the longest. He instantly knew he was a human, and he knew that _that person_ would be so pleased with him if he'd take this boy to him.

'_I'll get this human_,' he thought to himself.

"So… What are you doing here…?" Winters asked, straight to the point.

Aniki was the one who explained. He explained how the White Queen's vorpal pendant was stolen and that there was a human in Wonderland, and Wilfre might be able to spread Darkness all over. He explained how the White Queen also told them to retrieve the White Rabbit, who was now a hostage of _that person_. He explained everything except for the fact that Alex was the said human.

Winters was about to ask more, when—

"Waaaahhhh!~"

They all turned towards the person who made such a sound and saw Kureta, staring with a glint in his eyes at a rabbit-hawk hybrid with deep purple feathers. He unsheathed his sword and threw it at the rabbit-hawk as if his sword was a throwing knife. A few moments later, they were staring a grinning Kureta who had a decapitated rabbit-hawk in his hands. "Should we eat it?" was all the Cheshrie said.

Stephen closed his eyes and inhaled deeply with a poker face before opening his eyes and yelling, "You do _fucking realize_ that you just _killed a rabbit_, which happens to be the reason we are here, and then you just ask if we should _eat it_, right?!"

Carlo-Dum simply shrugged. "We _do_ lack food." He took out a sword from under his coat and slashed it across the empty air (of course, the air isn't actually empty—it contains oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, and there are traces of other gases out there). The Tweedle-Dum twin went over to a tree, where he picked up yet another hybrid animal (this time, it was a dodo bird and toad hybrid with slimy, green feathers) that came from nowhere.

Aniki tapped the tip of his hookah like he always did when he was thinking before he said, "I guess it is time we had lunch…"

* * *

After having a rather early lunch and resting, they continued on with their journey to retrieve the White Rabbit. It was some time around 1 to 2 in the afternoon, and the ground was still covered with snow despite the slight hotness they felt from the sun.

Winters gave out a low growl, similar to that of a wolf's. He didn't seem to understand how these Wonderlanders were able to keep calm with a human around them. The Hatter would've killed the human by now; the Cheshire cat would've eaten the human by now; the Blue Caterpillar would've placed the human in a dungeon by now. But noooooo. They were all cool with it. So he began asking

"Uhh… I can't help but wonder, but… Do you happen to know where the human may be? I'm getting quite curious here."

Aniki did what he usually did when he was thinking—he tapped the tip of his hookah (the tip where smoke came out) lightly on his lip. He paused before saying, "He would probably be roaming around Wonderland aimlessly, I guess."

"Or wonder-ing around," the Cheshire Cat butt in.

The Caterpillar frowned at both the pun and how the Cheshire Cat just interrupted his own question for Winters. "Why are you asking?" Aniki was suspicious of Winters' question earlier.

He side glanced at Alex for a split second. "No reason. It's just that I can _smell_ human essence omitting from Alex."

Aniki looked at the silverette weirdly. "That's preposterous. Alex is pure Wonderlander." He was surprisingly good at lying.

_Tch_. He whipped his head towards Alex, throwing his arm towards him with an open palm. Ice shot out of his hand, kinda like electricity or lightning, and aimed at the human, wounding Alex's left arm. The wound easily let out crimson liquid.

"Wonderlanders don't bleed easily. It would usually take minutes before their wounds would give out blood! This young man is obviously not a Wonderlander!" Winters yelled before charging at the human.

Once he was within a foot from Alex, he was electrocuted, blue electricity prickling his skin, before falling down at Alex's foot. The human had successfully used that electric rod the White Queen gave him.

Alex ran towards his friends before saying, "I think he wants to kill me."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Aggghhhh!"

They all turned towards Winters, who was the source of the yell. He was now standing up with a furious look. He dropped down to the snowy ground and pushed it with his hands, making ice spikes rise up, getting thicker and deadlier as it approached the group.

Kureta and Carlo-Dum countered the attack by slashing their swords at the spiked, cutting them in half and preventing them form continuing on and harming them.

Aniki blew smoke out of his hookah and controlled it so it'd wrap around the silverette, preventing him from attacking him anymore.

Cairo-Dee instantly brought out his gun and shot at Winters with one of her new bullets—Phoenix Flame. The flames shot towards the silver-haired young man and engulfed him in flames before clearing out and leaving a semi-burnt silverette tied in smoke.

Stephen took out his throwing knives, which he hid inside his sleeves, and threw them at Winters, giving him wounds but not causing too much harm. (They just flew past the silverette, but close enough that they'd touch his skin.)

And that was when Aniki let his smoke clear out and let Winters fall to the ground.

The young man slowly stood up, holding onto his stomach. He had so many wounds and scratches all over his body, and they didn't seem to bleed even if they were deep enough to reach the blood vessels in him. "Why…"

All eyes were on Winters.

"Why are you…protecting that human…? I don't get it…," he managed to say before coughing out blood.

Aniki gave a small but genuine smile as he tied Alex's wound with a bandage in a square knot. "Because he's our friend."

"What's it like to save a friend…?" Winters asked, his voice in a whisper

Kureta grinned. "Well, you could help us out, too! You're our friend, too, yanno!"

"Friend…" Winters looked down glumly at his hands. He looked up and saw the group playing around already. Kureta and Stephen were quarrelling about the earlier incident when Kureta wanted to eat a rabbit; Aniki was telling Alex that he should let the wound heal first before patting the human's head; and the Tweedles were gushing over something along the lines of AniLex.

"Yeah!" Cairo-Dee suddenly exclaimed. "The _Wandarando_ saves the day by making one of Wilfre's minions to turn to the good side and not capture Alex!"

Aniki tapped his hookah lightly on his lips. "'_Wandarando_'… Has a nice ring to it."

* * *

Somewhere in the northern part of Wonderland, Wilfre frowned at the scene he saw inside the crystal ball he stole from a warlock he forced one of his servants to rape and kill harshly.

_Tsk_. "Fucking Winters!" he yelled, throwing a near by table across the room and to the wall, breaking it into bits and pieces. "You _dare_ to fucking disobey _me_…"

He called for one of his minions and ordered her to go and follow them and earn their trust before capturing the human.

"Yes, Master," the young woman said before disappearing and teleporting herself to where the group was.

Wilfre whipped his head towards the White Rabbit, who hung on the wall to his left by magic-absorbing cuffs with his head down. He walked towards him and grabbed his neck, tilting his head up so the Rabbit would look at him.

Luke glared back at the black-haired man, who smiled in satisfaction at how ruined the young Wonderlander was. A thin trail of blood went from the corner of the Rabbit's lip down to the end of his chin. There were cuts and bruises all over his body and he had a visible scar going down his cheek.

"Your little friends are coming to save you~" Wilfre said, a sadistic grin forming on his lips. "So prepare to see them die while you can't do anything. Or maybe you'll die first? Oh, who knows~"

Luke frowned. "I won't die so easily… Neither will they… You'll see…," he managed to say before kicking Wilfre at the side with one of his unrestrained foot

_Tch. _Wilfre gave a low growl. "You _dare_ kick me! Just so you'd know, _I can do much more harm to you_." He grabbed the Rabbit's head and bashed it on the wall.

The White Rabbit coughed out blood and glared back at Wilfre.

"Seeeeee? You'll die of internal bleeding before they could get here, I just now it." The black-clad man left the Luke be and attended to other things, ignoring the yell the White Rabbit made.

* * *

**Oh my god, fuck yeah, I managed to write EVERY SINGLE IMPORTANT DETAIL that I lost because of my stupidity.**

**You know, I should be studying for exams right now, lol. Instead, I'm writing bullshit stories while killing ants that are appearing out of nowhere. Bleh.**


	10. Mutant Trees, a Mutant Pumpkin and a

**IX. Mutant Trees, a Mutant Pumpkin, and a Blond**

**Exams just finished! Yeah! I'm seriously gonna fail Asian History because I don't know anything about the Chou or Qin dynasty! Yeah! … **_**[begins crying]**_

**Aw, shit. I'm not even confident in **_**English**_**! Our topic is Indian Literature and I seriously have a hard time in remembering the Indian terms, so… **_**[groan]**_

_**[starts singing]**_** It's the MOST wonderful TIME of the year!**

* * *

"_Seeeeee? You'll die of internal bleeding before they could get here, I just now it." The black-clad man left Luke alone and attended to other things, ignoring the yell the White Rabbit made._

The young woman crouching atop a tree branch smiled at the pained scream the White Rabbit made, hearing through that person, who made sure everyone connected to him through telepathy would hear Luke. Everything about the merciless Wilfre's tortures made her at ease—it reassured her of the fact that she still has someone to follow, even if he was somewhat evil.

She eyes the group that continued on venturing forward, further into the forest of trees lightly and delicately frosted with sparkly flakes of crystalline water and the ground that was covered with the softest snow yet—all of this created by Winters, who actually lived here in this forest.

Then she saw something.

It wasn't entirely noticeable, but she was able to see that Winters looked at her through the corner of his eye for an extremely brief moment. Just from that small glance, she easily knew what the silverette told her—'_You dare hurt them in anyway like how that person would do, and you'd be as hurt as them afterwards._'

_Tch. As if._

* * *

"Hey…," Kureta suddenly said, his fluffy, black ears upright on his head. "Did you… hear that?"

Alex squinted. "Actually… Yeah, I did. Sounded like Luke…"

Aniki's eyebrows rose. "Luke…?"

"You know, the White Rabbit."

The Blue Caterpillar's tone changed into that of frightening annoyance. "I _know_ who Luke is. What I mean is, '_What do you mean, 'sounded like Luke'?_'"

Kureta looked down for a moment before turning his head this way and that, trying to see if Luke was anywhere near them yet. His ears stayed up right on his head, looking for any trace of that small scream he had heard. "I was sure I heard Luke yelling or something…"

Stephen suddenly appeared beside the Cheshire Cat as if he was one himself. He placed a hand on the Cat's shoulder and said, "Do you wanna take a break and have some tuna first? I think you've lost your marbles."

Kureta shrugged the Hatter's hand off of his shoulder. "No. I'm sure I heard him. Right, Alex?"

"Yeah, I heard it, too!" Alex chimed in.

Aniki faced Winters and asked him, "Did thee hear it? Whatever it was, that is…"

Winters' eyebrows furrowed for a moment; he looked like he was in deep thought and the others had a feeling he would end up exploding with the intense concentration he had.

"Winters?"

The silverette snapped back into reality, his eyes widening the slightest bit. "Ah… No, I didn't…" He looked down at his hands. "I have this weird feeling within me… It's as if there's this sudden empty space within me and there's, oddly enough, nothing to fill it."

Carlo-Dum looked at Winters weirdly. "…And so you've turn into a poet, then…?"

It was the silverette's time to look at the Tweedle-Dum twin weirdly. "Uh… No…" He paused to shrug before continuing. "It's probably because, after Wilfre knowing of my befriending you guys, he cut off our connection, and in the process, also half-brainwashing me…"

Alex glared at nothing. "So that's why Luke screamed… He was being tortured by Wilfre!"

Cairo-Dee grinned and did a fist pump. "Well, then! _Wandarando_ go! To save Lysia!"

Aniki tapped the tip of his hookah lightly on his lips, observing the land around them. '_This forest seems to change as we go. Instead of the previous snowy caps that covered the area, and trees that were green, this place has October written all over it, with auburn leaves scattered all over and a few pumpkins here and there_,' he thought. "Let's keep going," the Caterpillar said.

* * *

Alex dropped down to the ground in the midst of walking and declared, "This is a good spot to rest. Now if you would excuse me…" He fell backward and lay there on the ground, motionless.

"Well, it_ is_ getting dark out…," Aniki said, looking around. The sky was a mixture of orange, red orange, and pink. But there was still that shade of light blue that the gases in the air makes during daytime. "I think it is best we make a little campsite hither and retire for the night."

Stephen started to smirk a little as he leaned on his now self-proclaimed dead weeping willow. "So… Will we be having tea for dinner…?" His smirk turned into a creepy and twisted smile, as if he was planning a mass genocide that would be as bloody as fucking hell (the clan probably being a group of people who call themselves _Wandarando minus Stephen_).

The Hatter's smirk disappeared and transformed into that of an annoyed look once he felt an aluminum can of tuna hit him at the side of his head. He whipped his head at Kureta accusingly, who instantly pointed at Aniki, who had his hand extended in front of him, obviously showing that it was indeed he who had thrown that can at the Hatter.

"No," was all the Blue Caterpillar said.

_Tsk_.

Aniki placed his hand back on his mushroom. "We would have to hunt for animals to have a proper dinner. We were only able to have a few chunks of meat, since the animals Kureta and Carlo-Dum earlier killed with their sword were all skin and bones (probably having a diet for all we knew)." He paused to face Winters. "Would thee like to join the group for a hunt?"

Winters looked up at Aniki, who was right beside the tree he was leaning on. The silverette looked as if he wanted to protect himself from all the harm in the world. "Ah… No thanks… I've not much experience hunting, so…"

Aniki nodded in understanding. He faced his other fellow _Wandarando_ members. "It's best that you leave Alex with Winters and I. The Twins, Kureta, and Stephen will be the ones hunting, then."

The human looked at Aniki, his face a mixture of a frown and a pout. "Can't I go, too?" Alex asked, as if he was a little child wanting to go and play with his friends outside.

Aniki looked back at Alex. "Thee would have to stay with me in case there's danger lurking around. We can't risk you dying—it would also end up putting the human world in danger, since you would both be the first human to be in Wonderland _and _the first human to _die_ in Wonderland."

Alex gulped.

* * *

"Kureta! There! A turtle!" the Cheshire Cat heard Carlo-Dum call out.

Kureta took out a switchblade that came from one of his extremely long sleeves of his rather baggy shirt and whipped around, pointing the tip of the blade in between the eyes of his new target. He ended up pushing up the glasses of his innocent little target with a now annoyed and homicidal look. Stephen pushed the blade away from his face and leaned forward, closer to Kureta.

"Do you really think you could kill a turtle that would end up killing _you_ first?" he smirked before he continued on walking.

Kureta glanced at the Hatter as he walked away. "Turtles are actually delicious, just so you'd know."

"A pity. I'm _not _one."

"Uh… Hey, guys," Cairo-Dee said. "Maybe we should try splitting up? It'll be faster to get some food…"

_Hn._ And with that, the Hatter went to the west of where they were heading to, leaving the other 3 be.

Kureta shrugged, unsheathing his sword and disappearing in thin air leaving a cloud of purple and black smoke behind.

The twins stuck together and looked for their prey, leaving Kureta there alone on a tree branch just above from where the Tweedles used to be standing on before they left. He looked around him like a predator looking for delicious prey.

Then he saw his target. It was a cross between something like Niji and a wolf—a canine that reached up to the Cheshire's shins with snow-white fur and small wing-like antennae atop its head colored a light pink. Kureta decided whether he should use his sword or switchblade. He decided appearing behind it and beheading it on the spot using his rapier.

He reappeared behind the wolf-Niji and slashes his sword across the head of the hybrid. The animal fell on the ground, limp, a small pool of blood around it, with its head beside him, its lifeless eyes staring back at Kureta.

The Cheshire Cat picked up the hybrid and hid it under a tree root that would hide it form anyone who wanted some meat.

In the midst of hiding the carcass, something grabbed onto his foot, making him instinctively slashing at whatever was there with his rapier.

Apparently, a tree root got caught on his ankle. He wouldn't know_ how _or _why_ though, since the nearest tree root was a foot away from him, not a centimeter.

Then he heard a bellowing laugh that had many different voice, most of them deep like a creepier version of Santa-san, and much fewer feminine male voices that seemed to give out a creepy chuckle that would sound seductive, in a way. Kureta looked up and saw the tree looking down on him with hollow holes for eyes and a mouth, the mouth having sharp edges similar to that of a jack-o'-lantern.

The bony branches of the tree whipped around here and there as if grabbing on to something, but couldn't because he didn't seem to have the mind to. Actually, no—apparently he _did _have the mind to grab on to something. And that was Kureta, who was now hanging, helpless, upside-down, with the hands of the tree holding on to both of his ankles. He started to shake the Cheshire Cat back and forth, making him feeling rather sick.

Kureta prayed that his esophageal sphincter would prevent the food from earlier lunch time to _not_ get out of his stomach—because for one thing, that muscular sac had fucking _acid_ in it. As if he'd want some of _that _to come out of his throat. It hurts your pharynx.

"Aggggghhhh!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to get out of the grasp of the tree and failing.

'_Oh, god. Oh, god, whyyyy,_' Kureta thought. '_Why is it that my only supernatural-ish power is to freaking disappear and reappear?! I wish I could at least do something like… I don't know! Just something…!_'

"Oh shit!" the Cheshire exclaimed. "I forgot I had a sword!"

He began swinging effortlessly at the branches of the tree, and he was able to cut the bony arms off of his ankles, and stab the tree on its biggest roots once he was finally on the ground.

The tree eventually just disappeared, leaving traces of bark and shadow where it used to be. The shadows rose up from the ground and up into the sky, a few of the shadows having distorted faces of horror.

He took the hybrid he killed from the ground and began walking away, until he heard a voice cry out in the distance, followed by the same bellowing with different voices.

"_GAH, FUCK IT!_"

Kureta stood there for a moment, slightly amused that Stephen actually ended up needing help. The amusement was short lived when he realized it was _he_ who had to save him. And so he ran off towards the direction where he heard the voice.

* * *

"Hah!" Carlo-Dum exclaimed. "3rd in a row, Cairo-Dee!" He sheathed his sword inside his crimson scabbard and picked up the 2nd fluffy rabbit he killed. It had light, lavender fur, small, white, Pegasus wings, and, oddly enough, it had a tail of a goat.

_Tch. _Cairo-Dee shot something in the distance and ran over to it. He picked up something like a cross of a raven and a dragon, with a body reaching up to his knees covered in jet-black feathers and golden horns going down its spine. It had sharp, yellowish teeth and golden dragon eyes. "3rd in a row as well, Carlo-Dum!"

The Tweedle-Dum twin grinned. "I have a feeling that we won't be doing any skinning for the night. And we even have enough for 2 more days." He held up the 1st animal he killed—something like a deer covered with spiky-looking fur that looked like an pinworm's with a unicorn horn on its head and a big, fluffy tail like a rabbit's. "Yep. 2 days alright." He continued walking back to their campsite.

"Hey, Broth—"

Carlo-Dum continued walking, waiting for his younger twin to continue. But he never did. He looked back, about to ask what Cairo-Dee wanted to say, but stopped himself once he saw a huge, orange pumpkin with a jack-o'-lantern face (the type that has a huge smile and a pair of derp-ish eyes) with vines extending up like multiple hands. One of the vines held up Cairo-Dee—the verdant trap wrapping around his waist.

"_Carlo-Dum!_" the younger Tweedle yelled.

The Tweedle-Dum twin dropped everything and ran over to the pumpkin, unsheathing his sword. And just as he was about to stab the enormous vegetable, one of the vines wrapped around him and lifted him off the ground as if he was a mere play toy dressed in red with a _freaking legit sword in his hand_.

Just then, a quick shadow rushed into the scene and pounced on the pumpkin, stabbing a long, spear-like object into its core, making the whole thing shrivel up like a hypertonic animal cell. The vines let go of them and dropped down on the ground with a soft but audible thud. The pumpkin sat there, dead and rotten, as if it didn't move at all in the first place.

Carlo-Dum, once he fell on the ground, rushed over to his twin and checked if he was alright and in one complete piece. He kept saying, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?! Any wounds, scratches, brain damages, anything that's wrong with you that I need to seriously worry about?!"

Cairo-Dee pushed his twin away from his face, saying, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He gave a small smile.

"Well, that's a relief!" someone said.

The duo looked towards the direction of the voice and saw a girl somewhat 2 years older than them standing beside the motionless-as-if-it-didn't-even-move-at-all and now-the-color-of-rotten-cabbage pumpkin.

The young woman was of average height with blond hair tied up with an oak green ribbon, the ends of her hair curling into a small swirl similar to that of the ice cream in Dairy Queen, a fair complexion, and large, oak green eyes. She wore an off-shoulder blouse that nearly reached her knees, a pair of oak green leggings covering up until the sole of her feet, showing her toes. She had a vintage-like, brown necklace with two, oak green beds and a matching bracelet. She was smiling at them cheerfully, a hand on her waist and her eyes sparkling.

"And you are…?" Carlo-Dum asked rather impolitely.

The girl chuckled and walked towards them. Carlo-Dum stepped forward protectively in front of Cairo-Dee. No way in hell is he going to allow some chick to touch his younger brother!

"I'm Autumn," she said, extending her hand in front of her. "Just don't call me Fall."

"Uh… Sure…"

The girl grinned and placed both hands on her hips. "So, what're your names?"

Carlo-Dum glared at her for a split second before saying, "I'm Carlo-Dum, and this is my younger brother, Cairo-Dee. We're identical twins." He placed his hand over the handle of his sword. "If you wish us any harm, you must take note that I myself have a weapon as well."

Autumn waved her hand in a motion that shows both reassurance and wherein you're silently saying 'come over here'. But in this case, it's for reassurance. "Oh, it's fine, it's fine. I'm not gonna hu—"

"Hey!"

The blond froze as she felt a small blade pointed at her neck. She looked to the side and saw a black-clad young man with a hat atop his head. There was another young man beside him with cat ears and a tail—he had his arm around the black-clad boy as if he had trouble walking. Autumn waved at them as if there was no blade at all. "Hiya~"

Stephen glared at the girl. "Who the hell're _you_?"

"Well, I saw these two, cute guys who looked really shippable, and they were being attacked by that—," she paused to point at the dead pumpkin to her side, "—so I save them!"

The Hatter looked at the twins. "You were attacked by a vegetable."

"Oh, they're dangerous alright," Autumn said. "It grew real big and had thick vines that grabbed these two by the ankle."

Kureta and Stephen exchanged looks. "After we split up, Stephen and I were attacked by two different mutant trees. But, you guys… Why a pumpkin?" the cat said.

Carlo-Dum shrugged. "We don't really know how, but it just suddenly tried to eat Cairo-Dee, then tried to eat me as well. But don't worry we're fine."

The Cheshire's grin grew wider. "And you're fine because Autumn _sasquatch-ed_ it."

Stephen glared at the Cat hanging on him. "If you give me one more pun, I'm not gonna help you walk back to the campsite."

Cairo-Dee broke his silence and said, "What happened to Kureta?"

The Hatter looked like he wanted to take a shit or something. Either that or he simply hated the damn topic. "Well, when I was being attacked, and the cat failingly came to the rescue, Kureta absentmindedly tried to catch me when the tree died. He actually_ forgot_ I'm taller and bigger than him so I fell on his foot (he's bad at catching) and nearly broke his ankle."

_Tch_. "So how'd you save them?"

Autumn backed away a bit and quickly extended her hand, as if she grabbed something that fell form the sky. In her hand appeared a long spear with a brown, verdant base and a wilted flower on the flinted stone at the spear's tip. "Drains the life outta plants and humans, and kills it easily if ever they're possessed by shadows or any form of _Darkness_. It won't kill a Wonderlander, though, that's for sure.

"You're all probably wondering why I saved these two. Well, for one thing, they're the famous Tweedle Twins! And I wouldn't want anything to happen to them—who know what Wonderland would turn into if they're gone? And then suddenly the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter comes along!" She gave out a loud, childish squeal. "And the Hatter's carrying the Cat!~ And the Tweedle-Dum twin is being protective of his Tweedle-Dee twin!~ Ohhhh, so cuteeeeeee!"

She sounded so much younger than she appeared to be—s he was taller than all of them, but only a little taller than Stephen. Damn, was this supposed to be a person two years older or two years younger than them?

"So where are you all going?"

The Twins, Cat, and Hatter looked at each other, a brief telepathic conversation blossoming between the four teens.

'_Do we tell her?_'Kureta asked the four.

'_Just be vague_,'Stephen said pointedly.

'_Who tells her, though?_'Cairo-Dee wondered.

'_Not It_,'all three of them say.

Carlo-Dum sighed inwardly. _OK, fine, I'll do it._

"We're just…looking for something," Carlo-Dum said, waving his hand dismissively. "It's private matters."

Autumn nodded. "Is that so? I'm also looking for something, actually…"

"And that is…?"

The blonde's eyes had a sudden sparkle in them, and her grin turned into a small and enigmatic smile. She looked even more mischievous than before. "Just someone. Someone special, I guess…" She shrugged, her grin returning to her face. "Who knows? Maybe I'll find him while I'm with you guys!"

They all sighed and headed back to the campsite.

* * *

After a few minutes, they entered the successfully made campsite. There were 7 sleeping bags laid out—one of them probably forgot or didn't know that Aniki didn't need one because he refused to get out of his mushroom and be a normal person. In the middle of the carefully laid out sleeping bags was a fire that crackled and snapped every once in a while—it also seemed to be possessed, since it had a small face on it.

And once they saw Winters emerge form the shadows of some trees carrying more firewood, Autumn's search ended.

She ran over to the silverette who was setting down the firewood beside the possessed flame and tackled him, exclaiming, "Winters! I found you!"

The two went rolling on the ground with Autumn giggling and Winters with a slightly terrified look. Once Autumn got off the poor silverette, she stood up and introduced herself to Aniki and Alex. She also explained that she was looking for Winters, who was her friend's little brother who disappeared and went missing for two entire days.

She said all this with an arm around Winters, who looked like he wanted to tell someone, anyone, something extremely important, but couldn't, because Autumn glared at him for a split second every once in a while.

After Aniki magically skinned all the hunted animals, and after they finally ate something, they decided it was time to sleep. And since it was especially dark now, Autumn suggested that she and Winters stay with them until the next day finally dawns.

There was an extra sleeping bag—two, actually—so Winters and Autumn were able to sleep properly that night, as well as everyone else, while Aniki took first watch.

When she was sure that everyone was dead asleep and breathing as steady as possible, she leaned against the tree behind his mushroom and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. He stayed in that position for a moment, that is, until he felt someone destroying the force field surrounding their campsite, and his eyes shot open.

"Don't. Move," Kureta suddenly cried, pointing his sword at the neck of the person standing over Alex, who was still asleep.

"Ehhh…?" Alex said groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Wha…?"

"Alex…," Aniki warned the human.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows before looking up at the person hovering over him. His eyes widened.

The blonde standing over the human grinned wickedly at everyone awake, which was, well, everyone. Even Winters was awake—but the silverette was tied by a rope and his mouth covered by a cloth while Autumn was holding on to his collar. "I guess I act a little too soon… But why bother pretending any longer? I need this human so I can help that person take over Wonderland."

Aniki was about to actually jump off his mushroom and rush over to Alex, but was prevented form doing so when he felt dead vines circling his legs, arms, and waist, and also covering his mouth. The vines had a familiar scent, but the Blue Caterpillar was still worrying over the human to even notice.

He tried to call out to the others, but the vines just squeezed him harder and harder—mostly at the waist and mouth. To his horror, he saw the shadow blow some powder at Alex, making him fall back, unconscious. And Kureta was scooped up into the air by his foot, making him drop his sword.

As for the others, they were also either wrapped by the vines just like Aniki, or hanging in midair just like Kureta.

The last thing the Blue Caterpillar saw before he fell unconscious was Autumn glancing at him with a visible scarlet glow on his eyes.


	11. Uncovered Memories, Disguises, and Gambl

**X. Uncovered Memories, Disguises, and Gambling**

* * *

**Well… I would never see the day when Autumn would curse so much. But that's my fault, since I add a ton of curses in this story.**

**Oh yeah, I'm changing Winters' real name from Shi to He.**

**Nah, I'm just kidding. xD I'm changing it to Niveo, which is pretty much Latin for snow.**

* * *

_The last thing the Blue Caterpillar saw before he fell unconscious was Autumn glancing at him with a visible scarlet glow on his eyes._

Aniki screwed his eyes shut then opened them slowly once he came to. He noticed he was tied to a tree by those same vines that knocked him unconscious with that chloroform. He looked around him once he stopped seeing black spots and saw Kureta and Cairo-Dee hanging in mid air, a vine tightly tied to their ankle (and it's a wonder how the blood doesn't seem to be rushing to the capillaries for the upper part of their bodies), and Stephen and Carlo-Dum, tied to the tree that was nearest to their sleeping bags.

Alex and Winters were the only ones not hanging upside down or tied to a tree. Instead, such thick rope tied Alex securely, and he sat at the foot of Autumn, and Winters stood behind the blond, with handcuffs attached to both his wrists and ankles.

Autumn's small and enigmatic smile turned into that of a bloodthirsty and twisted grin. She took out a switchblade and made a small cut on Alex's cheek—the wound made blood gush out of it like a waterfall. "Wonderlanders should be much more careful when they make friends with a stupid little human, aren't I right?" she sneered. "And to think you guys were the so called '_heroes_' of this story. How fucking_ pathetic_."

Winters gritted his teeth. '_What happened to her? Shouldn't she be scared of dying when she saw that…_' He shook his head lightly, trying hard to get that thought out of his mind.

The blond grabbed Winters by the neck and yelled, "What were you _thinking_?! That you'd end up being much better off with a human with you?!"

_Shut up…_

"How _fucking stupid_ are you?! Ne, Winters?!"

_Shut up!_

"Males are _pathetic_! They can't do anything properly! That person should've sent me first so he could get the job done faster that you would have done it!"

_I said to fucking SHUT UP!_

_Ching!_

Winters tugged on both of his wrists hard, causing the handcuffs to break. He grabbed at the hand on his neck and threw it away. "Hate guys…?" he whispered, before his voice got louder than usual. "You hate guys…?! After your own brother, a fucking guy, saved you from that guard who nearly _killed _you?! And your brother "_died_" in the process!? Do you not know that your older brother wanted you to keep living a _fucking happy life_—not this trash where you follow an evil master?!"

Autumn's eyes widened as her mouth slowly formed into words _brother_, her voice barely a whisper.

_The boy fell over, his body making a loud thud as it made contact with the ground. His arm held onto the little girl who had tears streaming down his eyes like a dam that sprung a leak. He was covered in crimson liquid from that slash the servant guard from a rivaling household did to him._

_ The girl's eyes widened as she saw the older boy's breath slowly disappearing. She wouldn't believe it… He risked his life for her own… When he could've save the both of them by crashing out of the window instead._

_ The girl's tears grew heavier as she screamed, "Brother!"_

Autumn yelled furiously at the top of her lungs as she slashed at Winters with her spear, but the silverette merely dodged it by swaying to the side. The girl continued slashing at him over and over again, but didn't have that much strength having something soft being touched.

Winters continued to dodge each slice silently. After a few times, Winters grabbed Autumn's wrist just as she was about to slash at his head. He stared back at he tear-filled eyes.

'_Niveo…,_' she thought to herself as her eyes slowly closed, and her spear disappeared from her hands.

"I was thinking that if I brought the human to Wilfre, he'd take me to you again," she explained. "That person explained that, when one dies, they get sent to some other dimension and another timeline, either a timeline in the past or the future. I was thinking he'd bring you back to me as a reward."

Winters scoffed at that. "He isn't the type to give rewards, Autumn. You should know that by now." The silverette hovered his hand over the blond's back.

Autumn slowly glowed then disappeared leaving nothing but white shadows rising up into the dark sky.

The silverette sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He gave out a low growl similar to that of a wolf before he went over to the human a foot from him and untied him.

"Where'd she go?" Alex asked once Winters took the cloth that covered the brunette's mouth.

Winters explained, while cutting everyone free, that he teleported her to the White Queen's castle and, later on, he will be going there himself.

He also told them that, yes, indeed, Autumn and he were related by blood. However, the reason they have different colored hair was because he dyed his original dirty blond hair. Apparently, the story about a dead person being transported into another dimension was pure fiction, and he had told it to that person so he, in turn, would tell it to Autumn. Winters wasn't his real name, either—his name was actually Niveo, which meant 'snow'.

The most surprising thing about his story, though, was that his entire clan, minus he and Autumn, died in a fire caused by a rivaling household named Macka.

Once everyone was free, and Winters finished telling his little tale, Aniki spoke first. "If I recall, the Macka clan was wiped out ages ago. Why are you still here, then? I'd also like to know if you know anyone from that clan."

"Wilfre has been alive for a hundred years—literally. Once our house burned down and collapsed, I saw him take Autumn with him. So once I knew they were far away, but still in my seeing range, I followed them. I told my entire story to Wilfre, who made me his puppet in exchange for keeping my secret from Autumn. I didn't even know he _would_ keep that promise, though. Now here I am, finally telling the truth to my sister.

"As for if I know any Macka… Well, my only knowledge is that they were the Cheshire Cat clan."

At the mention of '_Cheshire Cat_', all the attention went from the silverette to Kureta, who was still sitting on the ground, silently listening to Winters' story as he rubbed his sore ankle.

The cat's eyes widened. "Eh…? Well, as for me, my only knowledge on these Macka-people would be that the Duchess and her late parents once talked about them."

They all looked back at Winters, who had his head slightly titled. He squinted, saying, "You know, you kinda look like this little girl who always went outside of the Macka's mansion—not to play, though. She always went out to sit in the gazebo beside their house and read."

Kureta's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes having this unnatural hollowness in them. "I've long forgotten who I was when I was a child…"

Winters shrugged then placed one of his hands forward. He glowed then slowly disappeared the same way Autumn did. But before he was completely gone, he suggested that they go in some casino in a town a few blocks from where they were, incognito, and see if there were any suspicious-looking people who would seem as if they were with that person.

Once he was gone, silence filled the air. You could hear a pin drop, if ever there were any pin in the Forbidden Forest, that is.

Aniki tapped the tip of his hookah lightly on his lips. "Seems like a good idea. Shall we try it?"

* * *

The following day, the Wandarando arrived in the city by noontime, and they immediately went inn an inn and ate some of their hunt. (That '_inn_' thing was purposely done.)

Once finished, they disguised themselves completely from head to toe. And to make sure they won't be found out, Aniki had to abandon his mushroom. They went there as Leax, Anake[1], Gazte[2], Shino, Kota[3], and Elliot.

As Leax, Alex wore a white shirt under a light gray jacket with a black scarf around his neck, a pair of black pants, and a pair of black shoes. On his head of messy, brown hair was a black beret.

As Anake, Aniki kept the longer sections of his azure hair in its usual braid, and wore black coat reaching down to his thighs with fur trimmings over a crimson-colored v-neck shirt paired with black pants and a pair of black, buckle-up boots. Around his neck was a chain necklace holding a silver ring.

As Gazte, Cairo-Dee wore a light gray, hoodless jacket with sleeves rolled up halfway his forearm over a thin, white, button-up blouse with short sleeves and a hood and a navy blue shirt. He had a pair of light gray pants paired with black, lace-up boots. Around his neck was a navy blue scarf.

As Shino, Carlo-Dum wore a dark gray jacket with a hood and sleeves rolled up halfway his forearm over a thin, white, button-up blouse with short sleeves and an open color and a red shirt. He had a pair of dark gray pants paired with black, lace-up boots. Around his neck was a scarlet scarf.

As Kota, Kureta wore a black jacket with white trimmings over a white shirt, a pair of black pants held up by a brown, leather belt, and a pair of black shoes. Around his neck was a thin, black ribbon loosely tied (so as not to choke him).

As Elliot, Stephen wore a zipped up, black jacket with short sleeves and gray trimmings over a yet another black shirt and a pair of black pants tucked in black boots. Around his neck were a black, belt-like choker and a necklace with black thread that held a glowing, blue bead. He also wore black, fingerless gloves.

They all brought with them the weapons that they owned—Stephen had his throwing knives, Kureta and Carlo-Dum had their own sword, Cairo-Dee had his shotgun, and Aniki had to bring a gun since he couldn't bring his hookah (but had a pack of cigarettes with him in case he needed his smoke magic for real). Of course, Alex had no mana in him, being a human and all, so he brought along the rods that the White Queen gave him.

Now, regarding the city with a casino in the middle of a forest… In your own opinion, what would you prefer, really? Would you like a casino in the middle of a forest, or China's _stock market_ in the middle of a forest? (Please look it up in the Internet before you even say anything about that.)

They had to go in pairs so they wouldn't have to deal with things alone, nor would they be counted as a suspicious group out to go in a quest to defeat the boss of a new story line in an MMO.

The twins were, of course, inseparable, so the Hatter was forced to go with the person he wanted to be with the least—the Cheshire Cat. As for Aniki, it was only obvious that he'd go with Alex, since it would be the safest for the human, since both Stephen and Kureta wouldn't much be able to protect Alex as much as how the Blue Caterpillar could.

And so they all parted ways, going in pairs towards the casino instead of all together. (I'd also like to say that the clothing rules of the casino are the clothing rules of a casino in America. I can't really explain it, so just research it yourselves.)

* * *

Stephen and Kureta stayed silent as they sauntered towards the casino.

—That is, stayed silent until Kureta said something weird.

"Do you think there'd be gay guys here in the casino?" The Cheshire Cat side glanced at the Hatter.

Stephen squinted before saying, "Well, there _is_ a possibility that there'd be…" He then made a little smirk. "There's actually a group of gay guys going towards the casino right now."

Kureta's eyebrows rose as he began looking around him. "Really? Where?"

"They're called the Wandarando—they're a group of six guys with gay pairings that either include incest and humancest." Stephen looked at the Cheshire Cat with an wicked face. "Don't you think?"

The Hatter nearly laughed at the face the Cat was making. It was that of disgust and pure annoyance—two things that Kureta rarely ever shows. Then his look suddenly turned all sparkly and happy. "Do you really think that the twins are more than a couple of brothers and an actual couple?! Oh my gun, they're just purrr-fect for each other!"

Stephen's signature frown appeared on his face again once he heard both the puns and how the Cat simply fangirled over that supposedly perfect joke. "Kureta, go eat an apple pie and choke on it."

Silence.

"Stop making those fucking puns, dammit!"

* * *

By the time Kureta and Stephen entered the casino, the Twins were already playing at the slot machines. They placed their load of Wonderlens in a makeshift bag by tying their scarves into one. (Of course, they don't entirely plan to keep the Wonderlens, but they don't have much of a choice at the moment since they have no where to place their load.)

It was a completely normal slot machine; with the symbols updating each time you pull the lever. But there was this one point while they played where Carlo-Dum got three swords seven times in a row the same time Cairo-Dee got three shot guns seven times in a row as well.

This left the twins wondering greatly whether or not it meant something, but they both chose to ignore it and not point it out at all. And so they continued playing.

* * *

Aniki gave a low chuckle. "I now somehow understand why people go to casinos to gamble. It is actually enjoyable, now that I've tried it out."

There was a teenage girl with green hair tied up in pigtails with mismatched ties—one was pink and the other yellow—, a pair of scarlet eyes, and painted nails having a pattern of pink, yellow, pink, and so on. She wore a sleeveless, yellow, off-shoulder top and a frilly, two-layered skirt reaching down to just above her knees that was held up by a black belt with spikes.

Under her top was a fishnet undershirt, on her left hand was a fishnet glove and on her other hand was a black and red, striped, fingerless glove. She wore a black and red, striped stocking on her left leg that reached up to the ends of her skirt, and on her other leg was a fishnet stocking. On the ends of her feet was a pair of crimson ankle boots. Her name, apparently, was Sakaki, and she was the dealer.

Aniki, to Sakaki's left, has the small blind, so she posted a small blind of 5 Wonderlens.

A bespectacled young man with strawberry blond hair almost reaching his shoulders sat to the left of Aniki. He wore a dark blue coat over a long-sleeved, white, button-up shirt and a pair of blue pants that hung over a pair of black shoes. His name, he had said, was Jade. He had the big blind, so he posted a big blind of 7 Wonderlens.

The one who goes first, the young man with shaggy, dirty blond hair with bangs to the right of his face was named Guy. He wore a plain, white, button-up blouse with long-sleeves and a pair of black pants under a black jacket with an open collar, and he had a pair of sneakers on.

Now, I don't really know that much about poker, and it's also hard to explain what happens, and I'm not even _supposed_ to be talking about it since I'm just thirteen years old, so I shall skip this part. (I'll let you in on a secret, though… My friend knows how to play poker, and she told me some shit about it, so, yeah…)

Aniki showed his hand of Q 9 , so the best five-card hand he would be able to make i , for three Nines, with a King-Queen kicker. Jade showed his cards of K J , making his final han for two pair, Kings and Nines, with a Jack kicker. Aniki won the showdown and the 50 Wonderlen pot.

"I win again," Aniki declares, a small smirk appearing on his face as he absentmindedly tapped the tip of his cigar lightly on his lips.

The other three looked at Aniki in admiration with sparkles in their eyes. "Anake is so awesome…," they murmur. (Take note of their pseudonyms, people who aren't there. Their pseudonyms.)

* * *

"Ahahahahaha!~" Kureta laughed, drinking some more sake straight from the bottle that some random dude gave him. "You guys'll end up naked before before ya even end up winning! You'll have nothing to bet on now!"

It was only at his first game that Kureta lost, wherein he bet his jacket, which Stephen was now holding as he silently watched the Cheshire Cat.

"What is your name again?" a young man with long, black hair tied into a ponytail asked. Everything he was wearing was black, except for the white, button-up blouse with long-sleeves that were folded up that he wore under his black coat. "Kota, right? Are you not under aged?"

"Actually, the rule in here is that anyone under thirteen years of age isn't allowed in here," Stephen interjected, finally speaking for once ever since he entered the casino with the damned Cat. "And, well, he's 13 and I'm 14. So Kota and I are pretty much allowed in here. Plus, aren't _you_ just 19? I mean, usually only 21-years and above are allowed in casinos."

"Ah… Good point." Black-Ponytail stared at the Hatter.

"You're name is Elliot, right?" a guy with snow-white hair beside Black-Ponytail said. He wore something like a school uniform or something, but without the jacket and necktie, and he had some ribbon loosely tied around his collar. "Why aren't you playing with your friend? And just standing there holding his jacket…"

Stephen gave a lazily made fake smile. "It's fine… I don't really wanna."

"Oi, Kuroh," Kureta said, referring to the black-haired young man beside him. The Cheshire seemed slightly drunk now. "I won again~"

Kuroh sighed as he took off his necktie and shoes. The white-haired boy beside him, who called himself Shiro, took off his shoes and ribbon.

The Cheshire Cat suddenly yawned as he shuffled the cards through rifle shuffling. "I'm bored. Let's go, El. I saw someone selling cream cheese in the shape of triangles over there." The boy grinned at the thought of it as he stood up and made a beeline for the hallway in the east wing.

* * *

The young woman with pink hair glanced towards the young man older than her with dirty blond hair. "When do we make our move?" she asked him.

The blond gave a low chuckled and looked at the pinkette beside him. "Don't worry. There'll be a signal sooner or later, you just have to wait first."

Then they parted ways and went to their assigned post.


	12. Lights Out, Long Lost, and a Betrayal

**XI. Lights Out, the Long Lost, and a Betrayal**

* * *

**I like this chapter's title… Hah.**

"**Lights Out" and "the Long Lost" are such cool phrases xDD**

**Lol, I think I'm drunk of water =w=**

* * *

_The young woman with pink hair glanced towards the young man older than her with dirty blond hair. "When do we make our move?" she asked him._

_ The blond gave a low chuckled and looked at the pinkette beside him. "Don't worry. There'll be a signal sooner or later, you just have to wait first."_

_ Then they parted ways and went to their assigned post._

Since Kureta got lazy in gambling, and was already quite drunk, Stephen had to go through the hell of dragging him around the mall connected to the casino. (The casino took up the center and main entrance of the mall, and the mall had a north, west, and east wing and was only half as tall as the casino.)

The Cheshire Cat looked rather submissive, with his drooping down, with he dragging it as he followed Stephen, who stole a few glances at Kureta, just to make sure he was still behind him.

"Hey, Cat… How's your tolerance for alcohol?"

Kureta gave him an annoyed look. "Don't fuck with me, I'm perfectly fine! It's not like I'm not drunk or anything like that…"

Stephen, hearing that phrase, wanted to go insta-kill on the damned Cat. Of course, he couldn't, or Aniki would go insta-kill on _him_. Kureta's slight simple mindedness irritated the Hatter. Why the hell'd the Cat drink two and a half bottles of sake, anyway?! Plus, he's underage, what the fuck?!

They walked past a store with little figurines of chibi whatevers and posters that caught the attention of Kureta.

The Cheshire tugged on Stephen's jacket lightly and dragged him in the store. "Hey, what the hell?!" the Hatter exclaimed.

Kureta went over to a poster of four guys who were in the same room, together, but seemed to be separated in two pairs.

The first guy of the first pair to the far left had spiky, red hair and had a cigarette hanging from his mouth and was neatly tanned. He was in a lying position and supported himself using his left arm. The man looked really bored. To the left of him was a fair-skinned man with electric blue hair that he ran through with his right hand, and he supported himself with his left hand. He sat facing the window at the back of the poster but was glancing back to the front with a slightly seductive look.

The guy to the far right of the poster who was the first guy in the second pair had a bored look on his face. He sat cross-legged with his left elbow resting on one of his legs, and his left arm supported his head. The young man had dark blue hair and dark blue eyes. To the right of him was a young man with chestnut hair and brown eyes who looked slightly annoyed. He was lying on his stomach with his legs up and his arms resting on a pillow in front of him.

The one, notable thing that they all shared was that they were all buck naked.

In Stephen's opinion, by just looking at it, you could tell that in each pair they were both gay for the other. Especially since they were all naked and looked like they just had awesome sex!

"Please don't tell me you want that."

"I want it."

"Are you seriously serious?! You, a guy, are going to buy a poster of guys, who look like they just had fucking gay sex?!"

Kureta glared at the Hatter. "I'm buying it whether you like it or not."

"Your money is with me, just so you'd know."

"Why'd I give it to you?!"

"You were fucking too lazy to hold them!"

"Come onnnnnn…!"

"Hey," the female cashier personnel said. "Are you going to buy the poster or not? I haven't got all day to deal with your bickering. Plus, it is a high quality poster, you know, and our last one of this specific official art. It's worth it."

Kureta took the poster from the wall and took some money out. He approached the young woman and paid for it.

"When did you…?"

"Took it from you from the last minute, duh." He held the poster in front of him, rolled up. The poster lit up and disappeared. "Now I won't have to carry it—I teleported it to Milady's place."

The Hatter sighed.

* * *

Alex silently watched Aniki as he calmly gambled with no such regrets and flawless moves. He was playing against a black-haired seaweed head and a blue-haired young woman with a huge cowlick.

"Hey, Anake… Are you sure you should keep playing?" the human asked. "You could end up broke…"

Aniki smiled at the boy reassuringly. "Don't worry, I won't get broke. I'm sure of it."

"And I think I will," the seaweed-head muttered. "And I still have to buy cookies for Oz, too…"

Aniki breathed out a sigh of satisfaction. He smiled. "And with that, I win again."

"Are you serious?!"

* * *

Carlo-Dum pressed the button to the slot machine once more—he seriously wasn't getting any tired from playing in the same machine over and over again since they had arrived in the casino. On the higher screen that counted his Wonderlens, it stated that he already had 668,947 W-lens.

To the right of him was a black-haired man with red eyes in a black butler suit. He was trying his best to enjoy the slot machine, but couldn't that much with that young man beside him who was swooning. The swooning man had extremely sharp canines and spiky, long, scarlet hair reaching his ankles. He looked rather feminine, had yellow-green eyes, and he held a huge chainsaw.

"Cairo-Dee, can you see that?" he whispered to his younger twin beside him.

"I can see it. Just ignore it, Carlo-Dum."

The older twin looked back at the redhead and saw that he just beheaded a young man who had his tongue sticking out of his bloody head.

'_Scary…_,' Carlo-Dum thought.

* * *

Kureta started to gamble again and he couldn't help but notice that the blond, young man, who was currently the dealer, looked oddly familiar to him. He shook the thought off and began concentrating on the game, when suddenly the lights went out. Ear-splitting screams and loud crashes echoed throughout the room.

When the lights flickered back on, there were little crystalline boxes on scattered on the carpeted floor that contained little people—specifically the ones who were once gambling but then shrunk and were suddenly trapped in those tiny boxes.

Only about one-third of the people in the casino were placed in the crystalline boxes, while the rest panicked and ran about, some of them escaping to the mall, where no one noticed what just happened, and the rest simply ran out of the casino.

What was worse was that Stephen was gone and the oh-so-familiar dealer in front of him had a twisted grin plastered on his face.

"Long time no see," the blond said, "_Kureta_."

* * *

Once the lights went out, some pink-haired girl grabbed hold of Cairo-Dee while he was in the midst of playing. He heard the shouts of Carlo-Dum calling for him in the distance as he himself yelled, "Hey! Let go of me!"

The pinkette tugged on the boy's arm and let go, making Cairo-Dee fall to the ground with a thud. He looked up and glared at the girl standing above him. The pinkette looked awfully familiar…

"Hello, brother," the girl said, staring at him with a blank expression. She looked as though she wasn't capable of any emotions, and that she wouldn't hesitate to annihilate the entire Wonderland race.

"'_Brother'_…?" the boy wondered out loud.

The pinkette nodded. "You're name is Cairo-Dee, yes? Our father and mother died because of Wilfre. Why, you ask? Because our that person killed our father, and that person made an explosion in the hospital our mother stayed in. What you didn't know was that before she died, she gave birth to me, without you knowing. That was also the day you and your older twin brother traveled through time, yes?

"I also seem familiar to you, right? Why, you ask? Because I took after our mother, having pink hair. You and your twin took after our father, right? Having dirty blond hair…"

Cairo-Dee studied the young woman. She _did_ have a slight resemblance to her… However, the only image in his mind of their mother that keeps popping up was her covered in blood.

He shook the memory off of him.

"Cairo-Dee!" a voice yelled out as the said boy's twin ran in the secluded hallway they were in. Carlo-Dum's eyes widened once he saw the pink-haired young woman. "Viasna…?"

The younger Tweedle-Twin looked at his brother with his eyes furrowed. "You know her…?"

There was a slight look of regret in Carlo-Dum's eyes before he sighed and nodded. "Yes, I do. The day before we left, Aunt Sireana told me that our mother gave birth before she died, and that Aunt Sireana named the baby girl after our mother."

"Why didn't you ever tell me…?"

"Because… I never wanted to have a sibling other than you." The older of the twins faced Viasna. "However, I cannot forgive you for killing your own mother! You're not worthy of being our younger sister at all!"

He took out a pistol and shot Viasna, but the pinkette made a sword appear out of nowhere that she used to protect herself from the coal-colored bullet.

Viasna's sword had a verdant, sterling blade and an oak green hilt with an enormous, crimson rose encircling it.

_Tch_. Carlo-Dum threw the gun towards Cairo-Dee, who caught it with ease, and took out his own sword made and given to him by his father. The blade was black with a light gray outline with a black handle connected to a hand guard that was longer on the right side.

"Tell me," the eldest of the three said, "will you see stars when I bury you in the ground?"

* * *

"Long time no see," the blond said, "_Kureta_."

Kureta's eyes widened once he realized who the dealer really was. "Jake…?"

The blond snickered. "Precisely, oh dear cousin of mine. However, I don't call myself Jake anymore. I now go under the pseudonym _Veror_, meaning summer. I am a member of the _Four Season_, who included Winters and Autumn, who you've already met, and one who you don't know—Viasna. "

So that was why Kureta thought he seemed so familiar. His cousin… He was his cousin. But he felt as though they were complete strangers, still—this Jake wasn't like how he was when they were younger. The Jake from before and the Veror now had such contrasting attitudes. The one she knew was extremely virgin and kind and innocent.

'This_ Jake is such a bitch,_' Kureta thought.

"What the fuck made _you_ show up, _virgin_?" Kureta snapped.

Veror chuckled. "Such a dirty little mouth, neh, Koneko-chan? If I recall, you didn't even know what 'fuck' meant when we were younger."

_Tch_. Kureta took her hand of playing cards and fanned them out before throwing them at her used-to-be cousin like as if he simply threw darts on a dartboard. The cards sliced the air silently and pinned Veror's clothes to the wall behind him, trapping him like he was a fly on a spider's web.

The Cheshire Cat walked over to his cousin and placed his switched blade on Veror's neck. However, before Kureta could force the blade in, Veror said, "_Skeur_", and disappeared into thin air, his body giving out the illusion of him being torn to pieces—kind of like paper.

Kureta gave out a low growl similar to that of a wolf's.

* * *

After the lights went out, Stephen found himself in a different place. He started to walk around, making sure not to step on the miniscule, crystalline boxes scattered on the floor that contained mini Wonderlanders.

Then he spotted a familiar face that made him groan out of annoyance.

'_Pretty Boy's here._'

The blond looked towards Stephen's way and smirked. "Hey there, Hatter! Alone?"

"And what the fuck are _you_ doing here?" The Hatter was annoyed by his appearance.

Dylan chuckled and ruffled the smaller boy's hair. "Keep the vulgar language down, would ya?"

Stephen glared at the annoyingly taller young man. "Does my extreme hatred for you actually _amuse_ you?"

Pain suddenly surged into the Hatter's wrists and ankles. He looked down and saw that his ankles and wrists were tied by ice in the form of ropes.

"Maybe it does~" the blond purred before knocking the Hatter unconscious.

The last thing Stephen saw was another blond that had the same eyes as Kureta's.

* * *

"Tell me," the eldest of the three said, "will you see stars when I bury you in the ground?"

In one swift move, he slashed Viasna at the neck, creating a tiny cut that didn't harm her that much, kicked her in the stomach, and shoved her in a closet near by.

"Cairo-Dee, go!" Carlo-Dum instructed.

"But—!"

"I said _go_, dammit!"

Cairo-Dee was shocked. It was the first time Carlo-Dum ever raised his voice like that. He must've been really concerned.

Cairo-Dee ran off, but at the doorway, he stopped for a second to look at his older brother, who had the most serious look he had ever seen on him.

Viasna slowly got up and grabbed her sword. "One-on-one sword battle: Commencing now."

The older Tweedle-Twin began swinging it expertly and swiftly at his younger sister, getting annoyed every second. He aimed for her neck, head, stomach, and arms, but Viasna blocked each slash every time.

"I have found my match. Why, you ask? Because you are a worthy opponent."

"You remind me of Winters. Why, you ask? Because both of you are irascible: easily provoked to anger."

Carlo-Dum ignored the pinkette's remarks and the annoying way she spoke.

Their swords collided and there began a battle of whose sword will be thrown away. Eventually, Carlo-Dum was cornered. He looked to the wall behind him and an idea clicked in his mind. He walked up the wall and hopped down on the ground and cornered Viasna in one swift move.

The young woman glared at her older brother and head-butted him in the stomach. It was a good enough distraction for her to run up the stairs at the side of the secluded hall they were in.

The blond made a low growl similar to that of a wolf's and chased after her, running up the stairs.

* * *

_Stsssss…_

Kureta looked towards the direction of the noise after his silent tantrum that consisted of kicking a ton of chairs here and there. The Cheshire Cat was shocked to see Stephen clutching his hat and hanging on Dylandre Crystalle's shoulder, unconscious.

Standing beside Dylan was Veror.

Kureta disappeared into thin air, leaving a trace of purple flames instead of the usual black puff of smoke. She reappeared behind Veror and punched him at the back of his head, making him tumble forwards, clutching his head in pain.

Dylan looked behind him and Kureta saw a hint of panic in the blond's eyes before he smirked and turned into cold mist and went away.

'_Once Stephen wakes up, I'm sure he'd do anything and everything to kill that guy for doing that to him,_' the Cheshire thought, '_so I don't have to worry about that homme fatale_—'

"Aaaacckkkk!"

The raven-haired boy looked down to see Veror with his arms outstretched, making his magic suffocate her by wrapping him with a paper-like object engulfed in flames.

Kureta grinned. "Paper magic combined with our clan's fire magic?"

Veror glared at his cousin. "My paper magic doesn't get easily burned, nor does it turn soggy when someone uses water against it."

"Ah, well, it looked like your oh-so-fucking-amazing paper magic is turning to ash already," Kureta mocked, "_Veror_."

The blond gritted his teeth in annoyance before making his paper and flames disappear.

Kureta fell from midair, but before he could reach the floor, his cousin grabbed his neck and slammed him into the wall.

"Shut up, you _fucking cat_! You have no right to say that to me, since you can't even control your _own fire_!"

* * *

"Ugh, get me off your shitty shoulder, you fucking, perverted player!" Stephen cursed.

"Already awake, Hatter?" Dylan smirked, setting him down.

The Hatter placed his hat back on his head once his feet touched the gorund. "Why the hell'd you knock me unconscious in the first place?!"

"Because…," the blond paused to smirk, "I work for _that person_."

* * *

Wilfre cackled evilly as he kneed the White Rabbit in the stomach, making him cough out blood.

"Sadist," Luke managed to say. "And why are you back here?"

"I finished my earlier duties," the raven-haired man said. "Besides, it's fun torturing a vulnerable little rabbit like you~"

That person ran his slightly sharp nails on the Rabbit's already wounded skin, creating more wounds.

Luke screamed in agony, and Wilfre enjoyed the boy's tortured cry. "Stop it…"

The raven frowned. "Don't you fucking tell me what to do!" He kicked the Rabbit on his side and bashed his head on the wall once more. "Hostages don't order."

* * *

**By the way, **_**skeur**_** is tear or rip in Afrikaans.**


	13. Telepathy, Battles, and the Blue Shirts

**XII. Telepathy, Battles, and the Blue Shirts**

* * *

_The raven frowned. "Don't you fucking tell me what to do!" He kicked the Rabbit on his side and bashed his head on the wall once more. "Hostages don't order."_

"Aniki, what happened here?" Alex wondered out loud. "There are tiny people in these boxes."

"Ah? Oh, right…," Aniki replied. "Just don't touch them. We have to look for the others." He cursed under his breath. "Why did we have to separate in the first place? Also, how did this trouble begin, anyway? I was having a lot of fun taking money from other people… I mean, gambling."

The human got up from staring at the crystalline boxes on the floor. "Uhm… Why not try talking to the others telepathically like what you did in the White Queen's castle or something?"

Aniki furrowed his eyebrows before nodding. "Right, right. I'll try that…" He stared off into the distance and concentrated. After a few seconds, he managed to reach the nearest Wandarando member to them.

"Cairo-Dee!"

"_Aniki…?!_" The Tweedle-Dee twin sounded shocked.

"Where are you?"

"_I'm looking for the others… There seem to be small explosions in the distance or something._"

"Come over here. Alex and I are still in the casino, somewhere near the—"

"Ah!"

The two turned towards the voice behind them and saw Cairo-Dee running up to them with Carlo-Dum's shotgun in his hand.

"What do you think happened?" the blond asked. "Everyone's in crystal boxes…"

Aniki shrugged. "Some sort of magic. I'll try contacting the others."

* * *

Carlo-Dum continued to dodge Viasna's sword attacks when he suddenly heard a voice in his head. It was low and static, and a little annoying at first, but it soon grew louder until he recognized Aniki's voice.

_Tsk_. "Not now, Aniki," he muttered under his breath as he slashed his sword at the pinkette, but his younger sister simply blocked it with her own sword.

"_Carlo-Dum, tell us where you are._"

"Shut up! I said not now!" he yelled. Carlo could see Viasna looking confused at that sudden yell of her older brother. The Tweedle-Dum twin took advantage of the moment and lunged at her, slashing across the chest.

All hatred for the other drained away and Carlo-Dum stopped once he realized what he had done. His thoughts ran in his mind. _What if he killed her?_ Fuck it; sure, he was driven by rage because he recalled that Viasna was the one who killed their mother, but he didn't mean to go this far…

"_Carlo-Dum, come on. We need to find thee._"

Everything was going in slow motion. The wound, apparently, was deep enough to make blood spurt out of Viasna's wound as she staggered backwards. She ended up losing her footing and fell from the edge of the roof down to the lake below.

The young woman gave him a grin before disappearing from his

"_Carlo-Dum? Carlo? Hey!_"

The Tweedle-Dum twin's shaky hands let go of the pitch-black sword, eyes wide as ever. He slowly glanced to his side, down to the ground. Carlo-Dum expected to see a blood red lake and small traces of a woman with cherry pink hair once he looked down.

But he didn't see Viasna. The lake was clear and undisturbed, no ripples going out towards the edge of the lake or anything crimson colored. There was no splash either.

"… _Are you still there?_"

Before responding to the Blue Caterpillar, Carlo-Dum gulped. "I'll go and meet you instead. Where… Where are you?"

"_Inside, by the entrance of the east wing._" Aniki paused before speaking again. "_Were you fighting with someone?_"

Carlo-Dum gave a low growl similar to that of a wolf's. "That's not important right now. …I'll meet you downstairs."

At the other end, the bluenette sighed before saying, "_Alright. We'll just be here._"

* * *

"Maybe we should go to where I could hear those soft explosions," Cairo-Dee suggested. "One of the _Wandarando_ members might be there."

Anki slowly nodded. "Once Carlo-Dum reaches us. Now, I'm going to try contacting both Kureta and Stephen to see what they're up to."

The Cheshire Cat picked up earlier before the Mad Hatter did.

"Oh, Kureta!"

"_A… Aniki…?!_"

"Yeah… Where for art thou, Kureta?"

"_Aghh… This seriously isn't a good time for you to be talking to me._"

"Where. Are. You?"

"_What the fuck's going on here?_"

"Stephen? Where are you?!"

"_Uh… Well…_"

The sudden sound of an explosion somewhere caught all three off guard as the connection between Aniki and Kureta snapped, and Stephen's connection grew awry.

"Stephen," Aniki said out loud instead of just mentally screaming at him. "Hey, answer me right now! What happened and where are you?!"

The Hatter attempted to answer the Blue Caterpillar, but his connection went static, before it eventually got cut off.

The bluenette gave a low growl similar to that of a wolf's. "_Fuck_!" he cursed out loud, losing his usual composure.

"What happened?" Alex asked the other.

Aniki sighed, getting a hold of himself. "This casino is really big. There art two sides of this casino, the east and west wing, which art divided by not too big entryways, but they have a wall in betwixt them. The east and west wing have entryways going to the mall, and the main entrance is the main entrance to the casino. While I was taking money from—…sorry, I meant to say _gambling_—while I was gambling, I went through the minds of the others to check on them.

"Eventually, I learned that Stephen and Kureta were playing strip poker this one time, and before the lights went out, they were playing somewhere in the west wing. We're in the east wing right now. However, we would have a rather hard time getting there because the entryway is blocked by wreckage—broken casino tables and broken chairs mostly. We'll have to take the long way there."

Cairo-Dee thought for a moment before suggesting that maybe they could just try and move the empty chairs and empty tables.

_Hah._ "Go ahead and try," Alex said.

Aniki sighed as he watched the younger Tweedle twin go over to check. "He's going to fail, Alex. …Why are we even wasting our time like this?! Cairo-Dee, get back here this instance."

"But I haven't even tried…"

The Blue Caterpillar was getting pissed off. "Get back here or I'll shoot you with your own gun."

"Uh… Surely you won't…?" The blond was getting scared.

Aniki gave off a strange, dark blue aura as he glared daggers at the boy. "Tweedle-Dee…"

"Ah. …Of course, of course."

* * *

Stephen propped Kureta up in a sitting position before checking him for any serious wounds. A bruise on the forehead (_He'll need ice for that_, the Hatter thought to himself, _before the internal bleeding gets worse_) and a few more bruises covering the Cat's arms. He checked the cat-eared boy's pulse and was relieved when the beat was still there, steady or not.

A chuckle. "So you're the Hatter?" the one named Veror said to him. "I never knew you'd care for someone who annoys the shit out of you."

The Hatter lightly bit his lip before standing up and facing the two blonds. It was two against one, and he was most like to lose in that. The best he could do was give one of them a nightmare illusion to knock him out and the other would probably go away if he wounded him enough using his throwing knives…

He glanced at the taller blond. "Why were you fighting with Kureta? And to just blast him across the west wing of the casino like that…"

"Just some family business." Veror paused to make a small smirk. "I don't think Kureta would want to talk about it to anyone, even if you are his boyfriend."

Stephen frowned at the word '_boyfriend_', since for one thing, he wasn't gay, and another thing, he never really liked that stupid cat in the first place. _Tsk_. "We're just…friends…ish. And it's the type of relationship where one hates the other but the other won't stop bothering the first one." Then he looked at the blond incredulously. "You two are _related_?"

Veror shrugged. "I'm his cousin from his father's side. My mom is his father's third to—"

A gust of wind cut the blond off and sent him flying to the wall behind him. He hit it with a loud thud, whilst creating a crack on the wall. Veror fell to the ground then slowly got up, clutching his side as he gave a low growl similar to that of a wolf's, which got cut short as his eyes seemed to slightly lose focus.

Dylan gave a low whistle, the type that you make when you're impressed. "And here I thought that you were almost human-like." He gave a small smirk.

_Tsk._

Two throwing knives sliced through the air, one of them scratching the blonde on his arm, nearly making Dylan lose his footing, and the other scratched him on his cheek.

"Dylchi," Veror suddenly said, his eyes focusing again. "You handle the Hatter. I have other things to do, and I don't think I should waste my time here."

The Crystalle glanced at his friend before he disappeared using that _skeur_ spell. Once he looked back to the Hatter, he saw him smirking.

"Aw, well, ain't that cute. He called you '_Dylchi_'. I can't believe you're a bottom in a guyxguy relationship." His smirk turned into a twisted grin as he threw another knife at the blond, hitting his thigh.

Apparently the knife that just hit him had something like poison coated all over it. A weird sensation surged all throughout his entire body starting with his thigh.

The room turned completely black after that, and Dylan swore that he could hear the small voices of Kureta and Stephen, before it slowly changed to school-like noises such as the ring of the bell, small chattering, and the slamming of lockers.

The scenery around him changed to that of a room with large, glass windows and beautiful paintings hanging on the walls around him. There were a lot of empty chairs and empty tables around him, though they had some school supplies on them. In front of him was an easel with a picture of a well-drawn girl on it.

Beside him was the same girl on the drawing, sitting on a stool, looking up at him. She had dark violet hair in a bob cut and soft, orange-colored eyes. She had a strange, midnight-colored tattoo on the side of her face that resembled something like a wing. She was clad in a blue, old-fashioned student's uniform that slightly resembled a sailor uniform for girls.

Dylan's eyes furrowed. "…Olivia…?"

The girl looked back at him strangely, titling her head to the side in a questioning manner. "Yeah, Dyl?"

"What are you…?" He wanted to ask her what she was doing here. After that incident from way back then, he knew all too well that they wouldn't be able to meet anymore. Since, after all, she…

"I was telling you about how nicely you drew that picture of me," Olivia said with a smile as she gestured towards the easel. "It looks so realistic and detailed. I wouldn't understand why your mom disapproves of it."

The blond wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth.

"Oh, that's right." The literal raven stood up and brushed the imaginary dust from the front of her skirt with her hands. "I forgot something in the classroom. I'll go ahead and get it, if you don't mind…"

Dylan felt a sense of déjà vu. He knew what was going to happen next and didn't want Olivia to leave him in that room. "Ah… Hey, wait—!"

"I'll be back soon, Dyl," she said, waving a hand as she headed for the exit. "Nothing to worry about." Then she was gone.

Dylan stared at the door for a moment before turning back to the easel. It was a rough sketch, but it looked well drawn. If only he'd had time to turn it into a real masterpiece before—

"Hey. Crystalle!"

He cringed, his eyes widening, as the door flew open and in stepped three young men, all of them a year ahead of him, and they were pissed.

"Care to give us some explaining, ya little bitch?!" the leader of the three—someone with neon green streaks on his silver hair, named Jarrod—growled. He took out three objects from behind him and threw them on the ground. They were lunch containers covered in unbreakable ice—the kind that doesn't melt; the kind that Dylan made.

The blond recalled how he had replied before. How prideful he sounded and how he provoked the three so harshly. He didn't want that incident to repeat, but before he could say something different, those same words from before came out of his mouth.

"Like it? It suits your hair perfectly. Want me to make it into a shape of a heart?" Before he knew it, his mouth formed into a shape of a distorted and crooked grin.

"Why you little piece of shit…," the second boy said, glaring at him for offending his friend. His name was Gara, and he was rumored to be a descendant of the Jabberwock. Hence his sharp canines and small dragon scales on his skin.

"Why don't we make _you_ into a shape of a heart by breaking your bones and folding up your body like a piece of paper?" the third boy grinned. He had a Mohawk-like hairstyle and his skin was a light blue. He was named Cleave.

Jarrod ran towards him and grabbed him by the hair before throwing him across the room. Dylan slammed on the wall hard enough for it to give out a small crack. The blow made him cough out blood.

Gara grinned before extending his claws and running towards him. He came at him with a slash of his hands, wounding the blonde's torso.

Dylan moaned as he turned to the side, facing the door.

And there stood Olivia, looking at the scene in shock. He tied to call out for her, but he ended up having a fit of coughs. And before he knew it, Olivia had turned and fled from the scene.

* * *

All of them, including Dylan, who walked with a spaced-off gaze with a sleeping Kureta in his cat form curled up in his arms, made their way towards the house they rented. Aniki berated Stephen for cheating and going through Dylan's memories just to keep him busy and for letting Veror kidnap Alex.

"I didn't know he'd do that! I was too focused on Dylan," the Hatter complained. "And how did you even know who Veror is?"

"I was reading Kureta's mind while he fought him," the Blue Caterpillar explained. "And I can't believe he managed to kidnap Alex without my Eagle Eye seeing it."

They continued to walk for a while with silence taking over before Aniki said, "I never asked you about how Kureta was knocked unconscious."

"Veror made some fire blast whatever and the blow was hard enough for her to fly across the room," Stephen replied. "What's the deal with those two, anyway? They're cousins, yeah, but…"

Aniki closed his eyes for a moment. "In Kureta's mind, all I can identify is that he doesn't understand what's going on anymore."

"Carlo-Dum," Cairo-Dee said, breaking his silence, "what happened to Viasna?"

His older brother did not respond.

"…Carlo…?"

"'She disappeared without any trace, mildly injured from the fight'," the Blue Caterpillar quoted.

"Aniki," the older Tweedle said.

"Yes?"

"Can you leave my mind alone first? I'd like to think about things on my own for a while."

The Caterpillar stayed silent, unconsciously tapping the tip of his unused cigar lightly on his lips before slowly nodding. "Alright. But thee would have to talk about what happened in the casino later on."

Carlo-Dum gave one short nod as a reply.

* * *

Wilfre growled as he threw the crystal ball from the cherry wood table it quietly sat on. The force was able to creak a crack on the crystal, breaking it into two equal parts.

He didn't like what he saw there.

Veror and Dylan should've taken the chance to kill the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. And instead, the taller blond simply knocked out his cousin, and the smaller blond was affected by the idiotic illusion of the Hatter regarding the Crystalle's past.

As for Viasna, she had the chance to get rid of the Tweedle-Dum twin, along with the Tweedle-Dee twin, but instead, the older twin wounded her, and she let the younger twin escape.

The raven sighed.

Why were his minions so useless at a time like this?

Well… At least they managed to kidnap the human.

Wilfre whipped his head towards the White Rabbit.

"You're friends are paying you a little visit, stupid rabbit," he said, approaching the severely wounded boy.

When he didn't get a response, he was furious. How dare that damn Rabbit just sleep like that?!

He grabbed a handful of Luke's long hair and bashed his head on the wall behind him. "You're only allowed to sleep if _I_ _allow you to_. So wake up, you fucktard!"

* * *

Once everyone finished changing out of their outfits, they attempted all methods that they could use to find Alex. Apparently, the same, familiar magic force that prevented Aniki to locate Luke was blocking every single way for the Caterpillar to track the Human down.

It was hard for them to not know where _that person_, Luke, _and_ Alex was at the same time, even if all three of them were in the same place. Their priority at the moment was to find Alex and Wilfre.

"I'm tired," Aniki muttered, rubbing his eyes.

Cairo-Dee looked out the window to check what time of day it was. It was already dusk. He looked back at the bluenette and said, "Can't you keep trying? Just one more time?"

Aniki placed a hand through his azure hair, covering his plam with his forehead while massaging his temples with his thumb. "This is wearing me out. Most energy in my body is required for me to use my magic to locate someone. And none of them is working for me to locate Alex. I need some rest."

"For how long?"

The Caterpillar unconsciously tapped the tip of his currently turned off hookah lightly on his lips. "I wouldn't know how long. I just need to sleep. Good night."

He shakily stood up and trudged towards his room, the life drained out of him. Once the door clicked, everyone could hear Aniki immediately fall to the ground in exhaustion and doze off.

The Wandarando (with the exception of Aniki, who was resting) sat around the table in silence, just staring quietly at the impeccably made cherry wood structure. There was not a sound heard.

—Except for the sudden growl of a stomach from a certain Cat.

_Pfff_. "That's what you get for passing lunch a while, since you were too scared to eat the goat-like creature we had," Stephen mocked, making a tiny smirk.

"Shut up!" Kureta exclaimed. "Anyway, isn't sake enough?! I had a lot of it a while ago."

"Alcohol isn't really good for an empty stomach, since it doesn't even go to the stomach," the Hatter interjected. He paused for a moment before sighing. "It's around dinner time right now, and we have no more carcasses around, so… What do you guys want?"

Cairo-Dee shrugged. "Maybe whatever's roasted outside in the nearest store?"

"You fine with that, 'Dle-Dum?"

The said boy was glaring at the table, as if it had done something horrible to him. He looked like he wanted to kill it or something, even if it was already a cut down tree made into something with four legs.

His younger twin looked back at him in confusion. "I'm guessing he is. He likes roasted stuff, anyway."

Stephen looked at the older Tweedle weirdly before facing Kureta. "What about you, Cat?"

"Anything's fine," he grumbled, switching into a lying position on the couch. _As long as it's not something like pork or beef. I'm bad at eating that kidna shit,_ he wanted to add.

They all sat in silence once more before Stephen stood up and picked up his black coat, which was draped over a chair. He put it on, and with a half-hearted wave, he left the rented house.

"I hope the Hatter gets back soon," a voice from Aniki's door said. It was Dylan, who sat leaning on the doorframe of the Caterpillar's room. "I'm getting hungrier by the minute."

Cairo-Dee glared at the blonde. "How are you so sure we're to allow you to have some food?"

"You wouldn't have much of a choice either way. If you want me to work with you, even for a little bit, then you'd have to," he replied with a small smirk.

Kureta hissed at him.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and in came a group of men in blue uniforms, followed by a particular man with a darker blue uniform, who appeared to be their leader, and a girl with long orange hair that seemed to defy gravity or something. The young woman was around the Wandarando's age, and in her hands, she held one of the crystal boxes they all saw in the casino with a sleeping person inside it.

"You say these people are responsible?" the man in the dark blue uniform said, referring to who remained of the Wandarando, pushing up his glasses, the spectacles reflecting light that came from no where.

The girl frowned at them. "That cat-eared boy. I saw him fighting with someone in the casino. But I am not sure if they're the ones who started the event, or it was the one he was fighting with." She went over to Kureta and thrust the crystalline cube in front of the Cat. "My brother is stuck in here. Get him out."

"As if I know how to do _that_," the cat-eared boy snapped at the girl, getting pissed off by the minute.

Cairo-Dee mouthed the boy's name as a warning for him to shut up.

"Earlier this day, chaos ensued in the casino in this placed called Alveo Square," the man said. "You three were all present in the scene, says this young witness. One of you even engaged in a brief battle with an unknown person. We will have to take you in for questioning."

_How do they know?_ Cairo-Dee asked the other two with her telepathically.

"I am able to see through one's disguise," the girl with orange hair said, reading the girl's mind. Her golden eyes glinted as she narrowed them at the Cat. "And I know you are somehow involved, _Macka_."

* * *

"The meat took a long time to cook, sorry," the Hatter halfheartedly said as he kicked the front door open. He expected a response to come, something like "Yes, finally, food!" from Cairo-Dee or "If that's a goat, I'll pass" from Kureta, but no replies came. He looked around the living room-ish part of the rented place, but no one was there.

Dylan's head emerged from under the couch, his mouth forming into a grin. "Great! I'm _dying_!"

"Where…" The plastic bag that contained the meat fell from the Hatter's hand. "Where the hell is everyone else?"

"You shouldn't just drop food like that." The blonde went over to the plastic bag and picked it up.

"I said, _where the hell is everyone_?!" Stephen barked at him.

Dylan help up his hands as he stood up. "Calm down. They were simply arrested. …ish. By the Blue Shirts."

"'_Simply arrested_'? '_Blue Shirts_'?! What the hell are you even talking about?!" The mad Hatter began slamming every single door he found open, only to see two empty beds in each of the three bedrooms in the rented house. (The "mad Hatter" is supposed to be a pun…)

"You know, you might wake Aniki up if you keep going on that rampage of yours," Dylan muttered. "Although it's less likely he'd get up by just that, anyway. But still, he could go on his _Wrath_ mode."

Stephen stopped just as he was about to throw a pillow with a knife sticking out of it at Dylan. He dropped it. "He's… He's here?"

The blonde slowly nodded. "Yeah… I moved him down to the basement or whatever so the Blues wouldn't get him, too."

The Hatter blinked before going down to the cellar, with Dylan trailing behind him while chewing on the meat. Once they arrived down, they saw Aniki passed out on a mattress on the floor.

Stephen attempted to wake the Caterpillar up by shaking him, slapping him, and kicking the bed.

"I don't think he'll wake up until his energy is fully restored," the taller of the two said, savoring the meat in gusto.

Stephen lightly bit his lip. "Care to explain what happened, though?"

Dylan shrugged, swallowing the food already formed into bolus. "Well, like I said, some men in blue uniforms burst in through the door with some orange haired girl. The girl could see through everyone, apparently, and even called the Cheshire Cat by another name, and later on muttered something about the Twins, but in a different way—no –Dee or –Dum or Tweedle in it.

"The Blues also wanted to question them regarding the casino incident, and to see if any of the three would be able to get the girl's brother out of the crystal boxes I made. I didn't really say that I put her brother in there since I wouldn't have any magic to defend myself with." He looked back at the Hatter.

The raven glared at him through the corner of his eyes. "It's all your fault."

"What?"

He took out a throwing knife from his sleeve and made a small cut on Dylan's cheek, cutting off small strands of his dirty blond hair in the process. Though, he held on to the knife instead of throwing it.

"Because of your petty excuse of having no powers, you let the rest get taken by some police force to be interrogated! I mean, you could've just told them that you needed to restore yourself first and then you could get that girl's brother out of the damned box!" He sighed. "God, if only Aniki was awake…" He frowned at the sleeping bluenette.

"Well, the Caterpillar actually only gets to sleep after a few years pass by and if his long lasting energy gets completely drained," Dylan said. "Like now."

The Hatter hid his throwing knife back in his sleeve and walked up the staircase leading to the door.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "And where you going _now_?"

"I'm going to get the Tweedles and the Cat back before dawn." He paused at the doorway to look back at him. "You're staying here."

"Oh, so _now_ you're trusting me?"

Stephen frowned and looked back to the door. He took out three of his throwing knives as a threat to the Crystalle, making the blonde mutter an '_alright, fineeee_', before continuing to walk out.

Once out, the Hatter went over to a pine tree that, at the same time, seemed to reach the skies and reach the ground. He kicked the tree twice, sending a code.

After a moment, a young man notably smaller than the Hatter materialized on one of the tree branches, looking down at him, irritated.

The boy had rather messy, auburn hair that slightly covered his pointy, elf-like ears, a strange, black marking above and below his left eye, and heterochromia—his right eye a normal brown, and his left eye a strange teal. He wore a brown coat with oak green trimmings that covered his top, over a pair of black trousers tucked in a pair of brown boots with green heels and laces. Around his neck was a scarlet scarf and covering his hands were a pair of black gloves.

The brunette frowned, jumping down from the branch and landing with a tap on the ground. "What do you want, Stephen?" he asked, annoyed that the Hatter disrespected his tree. "Also, you should just knock on the tree. Kicking it is just plain rude to him. Be glad that I'll forgive you for this one time and not tell the Elders that you kicked my Tree Contractor. How'd you even know this one's mine?"

The Hatter nonchalantly shrugged. "Seemed kinda obvious, I guess?" Then he recalled why he called on the Verden clansman. "Look, I need help…"


End file.
